Justified and Unjustified Loss of Trust (in institutions)

You may have heard of the “Yale Report” – in April Yale University released a thoroughly researched response to public concern with universities. Authored by a panel of distinguished scholars, it is titled “Report of the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education.” The Committee felt there was not much trust to report. It cited public opinion polls to the effect that public confidence in higher education had declined twenty points over the last ten years. The Committee usefully defined the trust relationship by saying “[t]rust is earned by doing what you say you’re going to do – and, ideally, doing it well.” The Yale Report is part of an upsurge of concern with trust. In particular, it seems ever since the beginning of Trump’s second term, we are awash with claims of a loss of trust in institutions. Besides the Yale Report, examples are easy to find. An asserted loss of trust in the public health establishment because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A loss of trust in the federal…