In one of President Trump’s many executive actions aimed to reshape the authority of the Executive Branch, Trump withheld over $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University. In order to restore their access to federal funding, Trump listed numerous policy demands for Columbia to adhere to. These demands included banning masks during protests, giving campus police offers more power to arrest students on campus, and increasing oversight of the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies and the Center for Palestine Studies. Columbia agreed to implement nearly all of these demands. They bent to Trump.
Columbia adhered to federal calls to increase oversight over academic departments, which is one of the most concerning aspects of these demands. The previously mentioned departments now must submit to a new vice provost who will review curriculum and oversee nontenure faculty hiring “to ensure the educational offerings are comprehensive and balanced.” As with many of Trump’s actions as president, this is straight out of an authoritarian playbook.
Academic freedom and expression are integral to higher education, not just in America, but the world. Freedom of expression, especially within an academic context, is incredibly vital to maintain the health of colleges and university. Columbia, one of the nation’s most prestigious schools with one of the largest endowment funds, bent the knee to Trump’s aggressions. What are smaller schools to do when they are threatened by this administration?
Trump has also made clear he is not finished with reworking higher education in America. Many institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University announced hiring freezes and/or layoffs, citing uncertainty in the future of their federal funding. The Trump administration has also canceled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal research funding. Last month, the Trump administration threatened schools that practice DEI. While a vague threat, federal funding is vital to higher education that these threats will be sure to harm DEI programs across the county.
Under the veil of DEI and “woke ideology,” Trump is directly threatening academic freedom and expression in America. The party of “limited government” is quickly becoming the party of government suppression. It is unprecedented. Even the nation’s wealthiest schools are threatened and are actively changing their policy to fit the Trump administartion’s opressive demands.