Americans Overwhelmingly Agree On What Universities Should Focus On

Joseph Klein January 20, 2026 1 min read

Americans Overwhelmingly Agree On What Universities Should Focus On

Joseph Klein
Free the Inquiry, Heterodox Academy

From congressional hearings to donor revolts to headlines about campus protests, American universities are being told—loudly—that they’ve lost the public’s trust. But beneath the noise, there’s a quieter question that rarely gets asked: when Americans criticize universities, what do they actually want them to do instead?

A new study published in Science Advances by economists at Cornell University and the University of Regensburg examines what societal roles Americans believe universities should engage in beyond their core mission of education and research.

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