Trust and Social Capital in the Academic Sphere
By Rafael Lara Matos The Pennsylvania State University administration failed its students by allowing the "Stand Back and Stand By" event to happen. IN acquiescing to the founder of the Proud Boys, the administration attempted to build social capital with its students by inviting speakers who actively campaign on destroying trust. This is only the latest failure from administration that has alienated the student body from itself and ultimately created a crisis. Community building is one of the goals of inviting speakers, and in creating community it allows the University to better represent students and their interests like governments do. And as "citizens' distrust not of government, but of each other leads to democratic disintegration" (Allen xvi), the same can be expected to happen to the University administration. Speakers such as the Proud Boys rely on division, something the University cannot and should not promote. If it continues to even simply ignore th