Donald Trump is attacking academic freedom. US colleges are fighting back | Opinion
We are on the brink of becoming an autocracy and the people of our country need to wake up and smell the coffee — and soon, before it is too late. We have been watching our democracy crumbling by the day at the hands of authoritarian wannabe Donald J. Trump, whose most recent infected endeavor is try to manipulate and overtake control of our nation’s colleges and universities, insisting that they essentially surrender their independence and bow to his whims, or face retaliation by loss of federal funds.
Essentially, the Trump administration is attempting a hostile takeover of our nation’s colleges and universities in order to force them to enact policies furthering its political agendas such as what can and cannot be taught in the classrooms, how the students are required to profess to think, and the prohibition of diversity, equity and inclusion programs — which we all know is to eliminate members of minorities from our society. In effect, this is a scheme tantamount to a systematic brainwashing by our federal government in creating what essentially would be all-white colleges and universities. This cannot be. As Americans, we should all be alarmed by this.
By now, we have all heard about the letter the U.S. Department of Education sent to Harvard University on April 11, demanding that the school accede to the Trump administration’s demands or forfeit federal funding. And by now, we have also heard about the courageous response by Harvard President Alan M. Garber rejecting those demands, correctly noting: “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Recently, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, a wonderful organization serving as leaders of America’s colleges, universities and scholarly societies, put out “A Call for Constructive Engagement,” speaking to Trump’s attempts at suffocating our colleges and universities to force implementation of his dastardly policies that would surely ruin our country. As of this writing, there are 523 school leaders who have signed onto the call, including Kansas City Art Institute Co-Interim President Allison Puff, Saint Louis University President Fred P. Pestello and Nevada, Missouri’s Cottey College President Stefanie D. Niles.
It would be a great thing if the presidents of all other colleges and universities throughout Missouri and Kansas would also join in and sign the letter. There is strength in numbers, and we need these schools to stand tall and strong against what the Trump administration is trying to do to education in our country. Colleges and universities in America do so many important things to make our lives better, such as medical research, innovations in technology and so many other important endeavors. Each and every one of us, regardless of our political loyalties, should rally around and support these schools in their rejection and opposition to the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine and take away their independence and constitutional rights by way of fear and intimidation.
I fully agree with the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ statement: “American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom. 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.” That is what a free society espouses. And as the letter so ably points out: “Most fundamentally, America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain our democracy.”
Let’s support the American Association of Colleges and Universities and join in that fight.