Why everyone hates the Ivy League

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Last spring, Yale University President Maurie McInnis asked a group of faculty to examine why Americans were losing confidence in higher education—and to propose remedies to restore it.Their much-anticipated findings, released Wednesday, call for changes to address everything from perceived political bias among faculty, to opaque admission standards and crushing student debt.“In its report, the committee calls on Yale to reflect on and take responsibility for our role in the erosion of public trust,” McInnis wrote. “I accept this judgment fully.”The report comes as colleges and universities seek to placate a presidential administration that has filed lawsuits, frozen federal research funds and generally made life uncomfortable for institutions accustomed to more autonomy.

Yale and Dartmouth, are the Ivy League schools least affected by President Trump’s scrutiny.In 2025, only 42% of Americans expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, up slightly from recent years, but still down from 57% in 2015, according to Gallup.Price, value and political polarization—and a broader anger at American institutions—have all fed the downdraft. Confidence has fallen especially hard among conservatives, many of whom believe universities give priority to social justice over the pursuit of knowledge.The 10-member Yale faculty committee found actions Yale took that reinforced this idea.The group noted, for instance, that Yale’s mission statement grew in 2016 to include “improving the world today” and fostering “an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community.”“These are all worthy goals,” the committee wrote, “But they are not what makes a university a