Abraham Lincoln, the president who once said "A house divided against itself cannot stand," understood the importance of a solid foundation.
It's why, even as the Civil War raged, he advocated and signed the Morrill Act in 1862, which was designed to, "... without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ... in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life."
Former UI provost Robert Berdahl, the past president of the American Association of Universities, a former head of several nationally renowned universities, and the next speaker in the chancellor's speaker series on "The Research University in the World of the Future," said the country's current leaders would be wise to follow in the spirit of the transformative Morrill Act.
"Lincoln had a very clear understanding that educating the public was very important to the country and required public investment," he said. "We need to have a robust infrastructure - that was Lincoln's attitude toward the idea of land-grant universities."
Berdahl said carrying that standard before a public increasingly skeptical of government intervention - reflected by a sharp decline in higher-education investment during the recent economic downturn - is challenging.
But he said the stakes are too high to shrink from the challenge because America's economic strength and stability are directly proportional to the degree at which it invests in the education of its citizens.
"There's been a change of attitude in investing in the public good," he said, "and it's not just public universities. That's a tragic development and the long-term consequences are pretty serious."
The question of "who should pay" is affecting student debt and access, which threatens the inclusion of qualified students and ultimately opportunities for upward mobility, he said.
"(Upward mobility) used to be the hallmark for the U.S.," he said. "We have to rediscover the value of investing in ourselves."
Berdahl said until states are more able or willing to support their universities at greater levels, universities will have to be smart about identifying alternative funding options, including depending more on alumni and foundation support, seeking out private partnerships and reconsidering programs that have become irrelevant or are redundant.
"Some institutions will have to alter their mission and structure," he said. "I have no idea where it's going to take us."
Berdahl is hopeful for the future, but he also is skeptical of the current course.
"I think, ultimately, it comes from the top and what priorities are being set," he said. "I think this era will be seen ultimately as a time not unlike the 1920s in which we pulled back from public investment. I don't think this is going to be seen as the golden age for the U.S."
Berdahl, a retired history professor, earned his master's degree at the UI and was the vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1987 to 1993. He was AAU president for five years starting in 2006 and is the former head of the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Oregon.
He said he looks forward to being on the Urbana campus again.
"I enjoyed my time at the UI," he said. "I was the provost when I was here, but they didn't call it provost back then. Compared with the present, it was not a bad budget time; but it seemed like it at the time."
Berdahl's UI tenure included the beginning of construction for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
"There's been a lot of buildings go up since I was there," he said. "The last time there was a lot I didn't recognize."