Growth Newsletter

A Big Business & Ivory Tower Tango How Two Institutions Can Move Together to Restore Public Trust

Americans do not trust American institutions.

A recent Gallup poll found that confidence in sixteen major American institutions is trending downward across the board from 2021 to 2023.[i]

While confidence in all three branches of government is drastically waning, perhaps most alarming is that only 14 percent of Americans trust big business. In recent memory, the operational and marketing efforts of several large corporations have alienated a substantial portion of the public and affected bottom lines along the way.

And, while just over one-quarter of Americans surveyed trust public schools, what about America’s colleges and universities? Surely, these bastions of critical thought and necessary tutelage en route to critical training across a myriad of disciplines have held strong, right?

a contrario.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, American colleges and universities have withstood a far sharper decline in confidence in the eyes of the average American than their public school counterparts.

Another Gallup poll showed confidence in Higher Education plummeting from 57 percent in 2015 to 36 percent in 2024, a staggering 21 percent drop over the past decade.[ii]

The obvious question one might ask when absorbing such troubling data on the state of the nation’s most consequential institutions is simple:

Why has American trust in the university fallen so sharply and so suddenly?

This is an increasingly relevant question as American colleges and universities grapple with the reality of an impending enrollment cliff that will see eligible student populations peak in 2024 and 2025 before precipitously falling in the years ahead.[iii] The looming specter of an enrollment cliff comes as several colleges and universities around the nation are already struggling with student enrollment. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported declines in student enrollment in every institutional category from Fall 2023 to Fall 2024, with both public and private 4-year schools suffering declines of over 6 percent, respectively.[iv]

While there is a myriad of reasons for the American public’s loss of trust in higher education, it is perhaps most pertinent to the immediate topic at hand to recognize the connection that exists between Big Business and the Ivory Tower. Colleges and Universities that are bleeding public confidence are training students who in turn, accept positions at corporations with even less public trust.

This cycle continues today.

Exxon

The Exxon Mobil Foundation’s Educational Matching Gift Program began in 1962[v], long before such an initiative would have been deemed a necessary placation for environmental concerns stemming from the oil and gas industry.

Yet, since the year 2000 alone, Exxon has given away over $1.6B to educational programs.[vi]

The program is remarkably simple. Exxon Mobil’s current employees and retirees make a financial contribution to an approved college or university, and Exxon Mobil matches the donation by a factor of three. This 3:1 matching program has generated enormous support for nearly 1,000 various institutions around the United States.

For instance, specific data is publicly available regarding Exxon’s 2017 matching initiative. Nearly $38M was charitably given to notable benefactors, which are listed below.[vii] But, before consulting this rather long list and the staggering figures attached therein, notice the commonalities between the schools listed. As well, ask yourself if your institution or perhaps another school in your school’s athletic conference is listed:

  • University of Texas at Austin, $1.7M
  • Texas A&M University, $1.5M
  • Louisiana State University Foundation, $955K
  • Rice University, $949K
  • University of Houston, $660K
  • Oklahoma State University, $565K
  • Cornell University Endowed Colleges, $412K
  • Texas Tech University, $411K
  • BYU, $392K
  • Auburn University Foundation, $389K
  • Purdue Foundation, $384K
  • Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. $374K
  • Baylor University, $369K
  • University of Notre Dame, $363K
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $356K
  • Kansas University Endowment Association, $341K
  • University of Oklahoma, $332K
  • Penn State University, $315K
  • Clemson University Foundation, $313K
  • Mississippi State University, $297K
  • University of Illinois, $289K
  • Tulane University, $280K
  • University of Florida, $275K
  • University of Michigan, $274K
  • Princeton University, $249K
  • Columbia University, $212K
  • Harvard University, $198K
  • Yale University, $174K
  • University of Pennsylvania, $118K

So, what do these schools have in common? They are either Power 4 schools one might expect to see on television any given Saturday, or they are what many would consider an elite institution. There are no small regional liberal arts colleges on this list. While Exxon is only one of several examples, what a keen observer will recognize is that such scenarios might only exasperate the problem posed at the beginning of this article.

With a new world in Higher Education soon forming across the American landscape, America may wake up to circumstances where the richest institutions continue to get richer while the less-than institutions suffer.[viii] In other words, it is likely that a disproportionate number of smaller regional colleges and universities will be affected much more negatively than the larger, flagship, state-sponsored, and better-endowed institutions in various parts of the nation.

To put it another way, many individuals reading this article from various small campuses across the country could care less how Exxon, Google[ix], or McKesson[x] are padding the endowments of major institutions with seven-figure gifts while they are sweating over how much of a percentage drop they are going to see in student enrollment from 2024 to 2027.

And yet, the forest cannot be missed while peering through the trees.

In several such instances, and much unlike Exxon’s program, these major grants and gifts are tied to specific initiatives. Google’s interest lies in cyber-security, and those fifteen partner institutions have received grant money specifically to bolster their cybersecurity departments. Likewise, gifts from McKesson are directly related to the pharmacy schools of each university chosen.  

Herein lies the glimmer of hope for the smaller regional colleges and universities with tighter belt straps but no less desire for growth, relevance, and impact.

The way forward is the joining of shared interests.

Two classic films help make this case – Wolf of Wall Street and A Beautiful Mind. In the former, Jordan Belfort – played by Leonardo DiCaprio – is famously improvising his now iconic dance at his wedding reception. Ironically, he is dancing alone. Unbeknownst to him, his greed will soon lead him and his company to ruin. He dances alone, and then it is over.

In A Beautiful Mind, John Nash – played by Russell Crowe – and his college friends are at a bar, and they are debating which of them should ask the prettiest girl to dance. At the onset of the debate, it appears individual ambition will rue the day – every man, and his ambition, for himself. Then, John Nash has his epiphany. Reciprocity. If they all ask the same girl to dance, they sabotage each other and alienate all other dance partners. But, if they avoid the unattainable girl who is seemingly out of their collective league, they will all get to dance.

What applied to game theory certainly serves as a powerful metaphor for the topic at hand.

Small, regional institutions can dirge in isolation while Higher Education continues to erode public trust, or they can pair up with the right dance partner and enjoy the mutual benefits.

Public opinion is historically low across countless institutional sectors. As a result, there is added motivation to remedy this reality, and several corporations are earnestly seeking to restore public trust through a variety of initiatives. It behooves all parties to find an attainable dance partner, preferably one that knows the same steps and will move together in a direction that benefits the American people.

Here at Prolific, we specialize in partnering with organizations that want to grow. This is certainly true in higher education, where we partnered with Wabash College to help secure the largest grant in the school’s history. As one might have guessed, the grant was funded by a familiar name in the pharmaceutical sector — the Lilly Endowment – and the funds went directly toward Wabash’s goal of leading local economic relief in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

$25M

largest grant ever received in the college’s 192-year history

red wabash


“With a limited timeline, we knew Prolific could hit the ground running and be impartial and professional in a large series of interviews and focus groups. Prolific’s research uncovered things we didn’t necessarily want to hear, but we needed to know about them to address the problems. That research provided the backbone for a proposal that led to the largest grant in Wabash’s 192-year history.”

Jim Amidon, Chief of Staff & Director of Strategic Communications

Opportunities for Growth

The loss of American confidence in the institutions of business and higher education and the looming enrollment cliff are entirely avoidable tragedies, even for small regional schools.

American business is not going to stop investing in American colleges and universities. The question is whether these partnerships will serve the American public and benefit your institution. Prolific remains committed to seeing that both of these realities are realized. 

Prolific has navigated these challenges before for clients – our partners – and we can do so for your institution, as well. All that is needed is to commit to the dance. Prolific can find you the ideal dance partner.


[i] https://news.gallup.com/poll/508169/historically-low-faith-institutions-continues.aspx
[ii] https://news.gallup.com/poll/646880/confidence-higher-education-closely-divided.aspx
[iii] https://www.axios.com/2024/07/03/education-enrollment-cliff-schools
[iv]https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/researchcenter/viz/Fall2024SISpecialAnalysisDashboard/SIF24SpecialAnalysis
[v] https://ir.exxonmobil.com/news-releases/news-release-details/exxonmobil-its-employees-and-retirees-contribute-more-26-million
[vi] https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/sustainability-and-reports/sustainability/engaging-communities-and-our-supply-chain/managing-socioeconomic-impacts/philanthropy-and-social-contributions#Women%E2%80%99seconomicopportunity
[vii] https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/global/files/worldwide-giving/2017-higher-ed-worldwide-giving.pdf
[viii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrosowsky/2024/02/03/the-cliffs-of-higher-ed-whos-going-over-and-why/
[ix] https://cyberclinics.withgoogle.com/grantees
[xi] https://www.mckesson.com/about-mckesson/newsroom/press-releases/2022/mckesson-foundation-awards-4-million-pharmacy-schools-close-diversity-gap-improve-health-outcomes/