The value of sincerity

Writing down and quoting back soundbites from Barack Obama has a bit of a deflationary effect. The words are a little less powerful without the oratory and can seem a touch over sincere.

But perhaps that is a reflection, more than anything, of the way in which politics has changed over the past four years, with Donald Trump’s circus act normalising things that are not normal at all.

Hitting the campaign trail for Democratic challenger Joe Biden last week, Obama reminded us of the overwhelming value of sincerity when the well of public debate has been poisoned.

Dismantling Trump’s approach to leadership, Obama observed with brilliant understatement that “making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better – you’ve got to have a plan, you’ve got to put in the work”.

In a world apparently bored with such fripperies as evidence and truth, we have “grown numb” to Trump’s way of operating, he said, even as the damage it does mounts up.

As US voters head to the polls, Obama reminded them that “truthfulness, democracy, citizenship and responsibility are not Republican or Democratic principles” but human values.

Whether enough of the US electorate agree will be known soon enough.

Even if the polls backing Biden prove to be accurate this time, that does not mean that all of universities’ problems will disappear.

In our cover story, we consider the implications for higher education of a change of president, and for many of the US commentators we speak to, the realistic immediate hope is for stability.

On the big-ticket item of financial support, for example, the idea of a radical fee-free policy might be attractive, but Jennifer Delaney, an expert on state budgets and higher education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, tells us that in current circumstances “if we end up with low-income students in the same position as they are now, I think that’s a win. Until we’re out of the pandemic crisis, I am not sure we can hope for much more than that.”

Be that as it may, a return to normality in the political debate, and to respect for the evidence-led approach that universities represent, should be enough at this critical moment.

Obama’s reassertion of the principles and values that provide the bedrock of liberal democratic societies was a timely reminder of how closely they align with universities’ values.

Higher education has become a battleground in the so-called culture wars for precisely this reason – cast as the embodiment of the metropolitan elite that has left a silent majority behind.

That sense that large portions of the public have become disenfranchised from what universities represent was crucial to the election of Trump four years ago.

The wider implications of that loss of trust and respect for evidence and expertise have been clear during the pandemic, and undoubtedly contributed to its ongoing toll.

So winning that back is not a parlour game or a matter of narrow self-interest for universities – nor is it vital just for the short-term focus of resolving the Covid-19 crisis.

Whatever the result of the election, the pandemic might be seen as a dress rehearsal for other global challenges – climate change, in particular – which will demand action in the decade ahead.

What is clear is that to prevail, we will need universities’ deep expertise to be effective in galvanising and mobilising the required response, despite the fact that it may have unwelcome implications for individuals, nations and corporations.

How to achieve that is a big question, and not a rhetorical one as we near the end of 2020 further than ever from the global, evidence-led cooperation that will be required.

Of course, there is another outcome that is not discussed in our cover story: a second shock win for Trump.

If that prospect is too scary to contemplate, then turn to our second feature, which offers something far more comforting – a reprise of academic ghost stories for Halloween.

john.gill@timeshighereducation.com