Trump Threatens American Universities
This article was originally published on Daily Kos.
By Alan Singer
Attacking on multiple fronts, cutting off millions of dollars in government grants for research projects, criminalizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and protests against Israel’s destruction of Gaza, canceling visas and green cards of students suspected of participating in legal protests, and demanding curriculum, administrative, and disciplinary changes, the Trump administration is threatening the integrity of American universities.
Currently Columbia University in New York City is the main target of Donald Trump’s ire and the MAGA right’s heavy-handed effort to censure ideas that they do not like and criticism of the government’s turn towards authoritarianism. The Trump administration cancelled $400 million in federal grants and contracts for Columbia University primarily used for medical and health research, but over 50 public and private universities are being investigated by the federal Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for possible violations of its new interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act because they offer undefined “race-conscious programs” or have administrative policies that Trump’s people consider “unlawful.” The Trump Education Department claims that because “U.S. taxpayers invest enormously in U.S. colleges and universities, including Columbia University” it is the “responsibility of the federal government to ensure that all recipients are responsible stewards of federal funds.”
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Alan Singer is a historian and teacher educator at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. His most recent books are Social Studies for Secondary Schools, 5th edition (Routledge, 2024) and Class-Conscious Coal Miners (SUNY Press, 2024). Blogs, tweets, essays, interviews, and e-blasts present his views and not those of Hofstra University.