Soaring tuition costs, degrees of dubious value and non-stop student activism have combined to bring public confidence in the ivory tower tumbling down, write Bradford Richardson and Jennifer Harper for The Washington Times.

Even college and university presidents acknowledge that the country is becoming disillusioned with higher education. In a recent survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed and Gallup, 51% of institution leaders said the 2016 election “exposed that academe is disconnected from much of American society”.

The erosion of higher education’s brand comes as no surprise to Cornell Law School Professor William A Jacobson. He said the public’s negative perception of academia reflects the “reality of left-wing bias disconnected from American society”. “Particularly in the humanities and social sciences, many faculty view political activism and indoctrination as a core part of their academic mission,” said Jacobson, who runs the Legal Insurrection blog. “While they may have the academic freedom to do so, there is a price to pay for the higher educational system.”
Full report on The Washington Times site