Big, Beautiful Bill? Time for Reimagined, Responsive Research

How Professors Should Respond with their Local Communities

Love it or hate it, the Big, Beautiful Bill has now passed through both chambers of the United States Congress and will be signed by President Trump on the anniversary of the nation’s declared independence from a non-democratic regime far distant from the lived experiences of colonists. If I were to flippantly summarize the situation, I might observe that the bill’s proponents forgot a piece of revolutionary history: they celebrate lower taxation but somehow neglect the whole part about representation. It is not taxation without representation that is their rallying cry; it is, “oh, sh*t! Taxation is a problem. Representation is really hard work. Let’s get rid of both.” Or more succinctly, the slogan might be: “Misrepresentation without Taxation!” Or “Here is your tea, now bugger off.”

But I am not writing a flippant summary.

The Big, Beautiful Bill is going to dramatically alter the fiscal landscape of the United States and make the lives of those with the least among us or who might suffer severe illness or injury more tenuous. Medicaid recipients will lose access to care. Access to healthy food for those who struggle to put any food reliably on their table will be diminished. Nonprofit organizations will lose access to funds they need to offer compassionate care to members of the community. National parks will lose access to funds to provide safe and enjoyable outlets for individuals in need of scenic relief. The nation’s deficit and debt will explode, leading our youngest citizens to accept the burden of fixing the horrible mistakes of the current generation, including both policymakers and the voters who put their faith in them.

With this context, what can the university professor, particularly the social science professor, do? This is an urgent question made even more so given the attacks on higher education institutions represented by the removal of funding from multiple institutions and researchers, as well as the forced resignations of university leaders.

Here is the agenda, and professors need the help of local communities to implement it:

1. What is the effect of these new laws on poverty, healthcare, immigration, arts and culture, mental health, education? There is much to track in the months and years ahead, even if some elements of the Big, Beautiful Bill are reversed or altered over the next 4-6 years. Researchers must be the keepers of trustworthy data, even if the data are not always trusted by those in power. We are the scribes, the documenters, whose analyses and interpretations will form the basis of history’s judgment on the actions of this generation. Of course, we must be neutral in our data collection and analysis, asking both about negative and positive outcomes associated with the changes. But we should not shy away from our normative responsibilities to contextualize our findings historically and morally.

2. How can harmful effects of the law be mitigated? We all know that pretending there is no problem to be fixed does not actually lead to the elimination of the problem. With reduced financial resources from state and federal governments to attend to various human needs, how can those who are forgotten in the eyes of the government be kept in full view of others in society? Answering the question of mitigation requires partnership, participatory research, and shared responsibility, always keeping in mind what governments often forget: “Nothing about us without us is for us.”

3. How do we teach our students to be pragmatic but to also not lose faith in the fundamental values of public service? My best suggestion at the moment on this question is to include in our teaching the stories and the persons directly who have stared down hopelessness and found strength to persevere. Quoting James Michener, “The great temptation in life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat in life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality.” We must live that and do so in partnership with local communities that are addressing intractable problems in new ways.

4. How should public service professors and university programs partner with elected officials and governments that dismantle public service institutions? I am writing here that professors and universities should partner, particularly with local governments and nonprofit organizations. But how should we partner, or should we partner at all, when a government (national, state, or local) asks for assistance with a policy analysis or to facilitate planning process on a topic that is anathema to our individual or collective identity? We are not obligated to accept a contract to do work, but if we decline or do not offer our technical and analytical skills, we might be sidelined and demonized more than we might already be. We have a responsibility, I suggest, to partner in ways that can alter the dialogue and insert non-Political considerations into conversations. Above all, in our quest to remain relevant in changing, chaotic environments, we may partner with those with whom we disagree or with those whom we do not trust to fairly represent our voice in public proclamations. Therefore, it is essential that we do not enter into any agreement such that the data we collect or the analyses we produce are removed entirely from our control and discretion for sharing.

In partnership, professors and universities acting with local governments, nonprofit organizations, and residents directly can meet these challenges, whatever the electoral map looks like in the future. We have new opportunity to build alliances that withstand changes in policy and budget, however dramatic and traumatic those changes are.

For those in local government, look to your university partners. We stand with you to generate ideas, identify solutions, conduct analyses of interventions, and teach the next generation so they are hopefully better prepared to meet the challenges they face than we are demonstrating ourselves to be. Together, we are the frontlines to prepare residents and future leaders for their time in positions of responsibility. Bring it on.