The ground is shifting rapidly beneath elite universities. Once-generous donors have rescinded almost a billion dollars in donations, and this may be only the beginning after the disastrous performance of several Ivy League presidents in a recent congressional hearing. The University of Pennsylvania’s president Liz Magill has already been forced to resign, and Harvard’s Claudine Gay, who is facing charges of plagiarism, is likely next. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has announced a full investigation of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn, which could expand to other schools. It seems that disgust with elite universities is felt almost universally, as everyone from billionaire hedge-funders like Bill Ackman to grandstanding politicians to Elon Musk pile on.
But it is important to remember that the most significant problems with academia have existed for decades and permeate nearly all universities — elite or not — in the U.S.
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