Mark Grabowski joined fellow Adelphi faculty in offering predictions for 2026 in a roundup published on the university's website. The post included a range of predictions covering the economy, healthcare, education, sports and more.
Here's what Mark, who is chair of the Communications Dept., said:
Institutions shaping knowledge and trust — universities and the media — faced a harsh reckoning in 2025. In 2026, we’ll see which ones actually learned from it.
The crisis was never about politics or technology. It was about purpose.
Universities forgot they exist to prepare minds for uncertainty, not protect them from it. The media forgot their job is to help citizens think, not dictate what to think. Both demanded deference to authority they no longer monopolize.
2026 forces a choice: In a world of infinite information, contested expertise and AI-enabled execution, what justifies their existence?
Survivors will admit the old bargain is broken and build value around judgment, resilience and earned trust.
Laggards will cling to “trust us because we’re the experts” long after the public demands “show us why.” Most students sense this disconnect: going into debt to learn from professors who secured tenure in a system that no longer exists, preparing for careers those same professors couldn’t get today.
External forces — AI disruption, U.S.–China fragmentation, Europe’s regulatory maximalism, intensifying political polarization — provide context, not cause.
The real question: Can institutions designed for scarcity still justify existence in an age of abundance? Most won’t even ask honestly. That’s why they’ll fail.
Here's what Mark, who is chair of the Communications Dept., said:
Institutions shaping knowledge and trust — universities and the media — faced a harsh reckoning in 2025. In 2026, we’ll see which ones actually learned from it.
The crisis was never about politics or technology. It was about purpose.
Universities forgot they exist to prepare minds for uncertainty, not protect them from it. The media forgot their job is to help citizens think, not dictate what to think. Both demanded deference to authority they no longer monopolize.
2026 forces a choice: In a world of infinite information, contested expertise and AI-enabled execution, what justifies their existence?
Survivors will admit the old bargain is broken and build value around judgment, resilience and earned trust.
Laggards will cling to “trust us because we’re the experts” long after the public demands “show us why.” Most students sense this disconnect: going into debt to learn from professors who secured tenure in a system that no longer exists, preparing for careers those same professors couldn’t get today.
External forces — AI disruption, U.S.–China fragmentation, Europe’s regulatory maximalism, intensifying political polarization — provide context, not cause.
The real question: Can institutions designed for scarcity still justify existence in an age of abundance? Most won’t even ask honestly. That’s why they’ll fail.
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