America's elite universities have lost their way

If you doubt that America's elite universities have lost their way, consider that, as part of a settlement with the Trump administration, Harvard is considering building trade schools.

- Allison Schrager, Tribune News Service

Whatever Harvard's comparative advantage is - and it has many! - it is not in vocational education. US colleges and universities attract the world's best students and academics, and produce research that powers the global economy. But the share of Americans who have a lot of trust in higher education has declined 15 percentage points over the last decade, to 428 - and trust in the Ivy League stands at just 15%. President Donald Trump is going after America's elite universities for a reason: Institutions that should be a source of national pride have become divisive (if not detested) because they have lost sight of their mission and why they are worthy of taxpayer support.