By Matthew Kaufman
Former Editor-in-Chief
President Michael Bernstein joined over 150 other college presidents Tuesday in signing a letter rebuking the Trump Administration’s recent actions targeting higher education institutions across the country.
“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the college presidents wrote in the letter, titled “A Call for Constructive Engagement” and released by the American Association of Colleges & Universities.
“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” the letter continues. “However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”
The administrators also emphasized their commitment to academic freedom and free speech on their campuses.
“Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation,” they wrote.
In a statement to The Signal, Bernstein said he was “proud to join my fellow higher education leaders in calling for thoughtful conversation and constructive engagement to maintain academic freedoms and ensure the long-term integrity, sustainability, and success of our institutions.”
Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House, commented on the letter to NBC News, saying the Trump Administration is “standing up for equality and fairness and will not be swayed by worthless letters by overpaid blowhards.”
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the federal government has targeted higher education institutions by threatening to withhold federal funding from several schools and revoking visas of international students.
On April 14, the administration said it would freeze $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University after the institution announced it would not agree to a number of the government’s demands to limit campus activism, according to the Associated Press. On April 21, Harvard sued the Trump Administration over the funding freeze.
Not all colleges and universities have resisted the administration’s actions in the same vein as Harvard. Columbia University, for example, agreed in March to a number of Trump’s demands, including banning face masks and giving campus police officers more power to arrest students, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The letter from the AAC&U comes after the College’s faculty union held a protest on April 17, which also condemned the Trump Administration’s efforts to exert more control over American colleges and universities.
“We have a fantastic educational system which the Trump Administration is keen to destroy because we are potentially a power base for resistance,” Susanna Monseau, a union member and professor of interdisciplinary business, told the crowd at the protest.
