Sarath Sanga

Things are looking up, dear listeners. The semester is over, summer is nearly here, and David’s beloved Knicks are up 2-0 in the NBA Finals. 

In this week’s episode, we take a step back and do some introspection. Here to discuss whether you should trust Yale, and other elite universities, more than Jalen Brunson in the fourth quarter is friend and colleague Sarath Sanga, Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Co-Director of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law. Sanga joins us to discuss both his new article, A Theory of Trust in Institutions, co-authored by Yehonatan Givati, and the recent Report by the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education, of which Sanga was a member.

Sanga kicks off the episode by explaining his view of why higher education is hemorrhaging public trust. Sanga argues that universities, and other institutions, pre-commit to doing specific things, and they lose trust whenever they stray from this initial commitment. Sam questions whether universities are now, and always have been, finishing schools for elites and, if so, whether it makes sense to talk about institutions like Yale having a mandate. And David brings up a variety of counterexamples that call into question whether an institution going against its mandate, such as when a university fields varsity sports teams, actually decreases trust in the real world. We hope you enjoy!

Referenced Readings

• A Theory of Trust in Institutions, by Sarath Sanga and Yehonatan Givati

• Report of the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education, by Yale University

• "Shut Up and Dribble", by Ian Ayres

A Running List of Nominations for the Canon of American Legal Thought (1975-2025)

• A Matter of Interpretation, by Antonin Scalia [Grove]

• “A Neo-Federalist View of Article III”, by Akhil Reed Amar [Grove]

• “The Anticanon”, by Jamal Greene [Grove]

• The Economic Structure of Corporate Law, by Frank Easterbrook and Daniel Fischel [Macey]

• “The Costs of Employment Segregation: Evidence from the Federal Government Under Woodrow Wilson”, by Abhay Aneja and Guo Xu [Sanga]

This episode is all about how Yale, and other elite institutions, are losing public trust. As Yale Law School insiders, what’s your best solution for making YLS more trustworthy? 

Sam: I’m very suspicious of law schools, especially ours-why shouldn’t everyone else be?
David:  I’m not sure that there is one quick trick in a polarized country, unless we can ensure that none of our graduates ever have an opinion that anyone of any political party ever disagrees with. That said, the best plan is to focus on what we’re good at, teaching brilliant students (like Daniel Browning, our out-going EP and all-around superstar!) and producing a broad range of excellent and rigorous scholarship.