Statement signed by Harvard, Princeton and Brown leaders denounces White House\u2019s \u2018undue government intrusion\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 150 presidents of US colleges and universities have signed a statement denouncing the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cunprecedented government overreach and political interference\u201d with higher education \u2013 the strongest sign yet that US educational institutions are forming a unified front against the government\u2019s extraordinary attack on their independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement<\/a>, published early on Tuesday by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, comes weeks into the administration\u2019s mounting campaign against higher education, and hours after Harvard University became the first school to sue<\/a> the government over threats to its funding. Harvard is one of several institutions hit in recent weeks with huge funding cuts and demands they relinquish significant institutional autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The signatories come from large state schools, small liberal arts colleges and Ivy League institutions, including the presidents of Harvard, <\/strong>Princeton and Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the statement, the university presidents, as well as the leaders of several scholarly societies say they speak with \u201cone voice\u201d and call for \u201cconstructive engagement\u201d with the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,\u201d they write. \u201cHowever, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harvard\u2019s lawsuit comes after the administration announced it would freeze $2.3bn in federal funds, and Donald Trump<\/a> threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status, over claims the university failed to protect Jewish students from pro-Palestinian protests. The suit and the statement, taken together, mark an increasingly muscular response from universities following what initially appeared to be a tepid approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While some university leaders have in recent weeks criticised the administration and indicated they will not abide by its demands, the statement marks the first time presidents have spoken out collectively on the matter. The joint condemnation followed a convening of more than 100 university leaders called by the AAC&U and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences last week to \u201ccome together to speak out at this moment of enormity\u201d, said Lynn Pasquerella, the president of the AAC&U.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pasquerella said that there was \u201cwidespread agreement\u201d across a variety of academic institutions about the need to take a collective stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMuch has been written about this flood-the-zone strategy that\u2019s being used in the current attacks on higher education, and it\u2019s a strategy designed to overwhelm campus leaders with a constant barrage of directives, executive orders and policy announcements that make it impossible to respond to everything all at once,\u201d she said, explaining why it has taken until now for a joint response. \u201cCampus leaders have had a lot to deal with over the past few months, and I think that\u2019s part of the reason, but it\u2019s also the case that they are constrained by boards, by multiple constituencies who are often asking them to do things that are at odds with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump administration has issued a barrage of measures aimed at universities the right has described as \u201cthe enemy\u201d \u2013 some under the guise of fighting alleged antisemitism on campuses and others in an explicit effort to eradicate diversity and inclusion initiatives. Billions in federal funds are under threat unless universities comply with extreme demands, such as removing academic departments from faculty control, \u201cauditing\u201d the viewpoints of students and faculty, and collaborating with federal authorities as they target international students for detention and deportation. Along with its actions against Harvard, <\/strong>it has threatened and in some cases withheld millions more from Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, Columbia, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Columbia has largely accepted<\/a> the administration\u2019s requirements to restore funding, <\/strong>including placing an academic department<\/a> under outside oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The measures against the schools, which are already upending academic research, undermine longstanding partnerships between the federal government and universities, and are contributing to an atmosphere of repression, the statement\u2019s signatories note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur 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,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, Harvard University issued the strongest rebuke yet<\/a> of the administration\u2019s demands, with its president, Alan Garber, setting off a showdown<\/a> with the White House by saying that the university would not \u201csurrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Harvard\u2019s lawsuit was the first by a university, <\/strong>higher education associations and organisations representing faculty have filed other <\/strong>legal<\/a> challenges<\/a> over the cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n