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From the VP- Rebuilding Trust in the Age of Misinformation

Recently, I attended a Higher Education Leadership Roundtable hosted by the UW Alumni Association. The roundtable discussion focused on the importance of strengthening public trust in universities which has been on a significant and concerning decline in recent years. A 2019 Gallup poll found that just 51% of U.S. adults believe a college education is “very important” — down from 70% in 2013. This echoed similar findings by Pew Research Center from the same year. Gallup suggests that this break down in trust results from concerns around affordability and declining confidence in higher education as a neutral disseminator of information.

Technology may further compound the decrease in trust. The digital age connects communities and individuals in ways that belonged squarely in science fiction fifty years ago. We can share information faster than ever before and experience news stories as they unfold. However, this increased access also brought challenges that threaten our ability to be well informed and to have productive discourse. Now anyone with an internet connection can share any piece of information — or misinformation — instantly to thousands of others who can then share it with thousands more. To make matters worse, misinformation is increasingly difficult to spot. From computer generated images that fake diversity in advertising to deepfake videos realistically putting words in people’s mouths they never said, it is easy to see why we have developed information trust issues.

It is clear that colleges and universities need take steps to rebuild public trust both in universities and in information systems as a whole. To address perennial concerns around cost, the UW developed the Husky Promise program a decade ago which guarantees full tuition coverage for eligible low income Washington state students. Additionally, the state-wide higher education community came together last year to support the Workforce Education Investment Act which will extend financial aid to 110,000 Washington state students. Because of these programs in the state of Washington, college is increasingly affordable.

The Center for an Informed Public, a new collaboration between the UW and WSU, seeks to shed light on misinformation/disinformation and rebuild confidence in information sources like public universities. CIP, which launched in November, is a nonpartisan, multi-disciplinary center whose mission is to resist strategic misinformation, promote an informed society and strengthen democratic discourse. The center is dedicated to researching misinformation and sharing findings with lawmakers, companies and community members. Universities are uniquely equipped to help solve far-reaching societal challenges like misinformation. And by inviting community stakeholders to the table through collaborative efforts like CIP, the UW can strengthen its value proposition and help renew trust in information systems more broadly.

For more about the Workforce Education Investment Act, I’d recommend this editorial in The Seattle Times as a starting point. To learn more about CIP’s great work, I encourage you to attend the Center for an Informed Public’s upcoming town hall event. Tickets can be purchased here.