The Trump administration has not shied away from its anti-higher education policy with several funding cuts at the levels of education. DEI programs in schools have been rescinded and federal grants have been frozen (which affects FAFSA for many students applying to higher education). As a result, many believe that these initiatives have made going to university an even more difficult struggle, which is a step backward for our nation as a whole.
Harvard’s Role
Harvard University decided to take a stand against these grant freezes by filing a lawsuit against the administration. According to the BBC, the president of Harvard stated, “the $2bn funding freeze would hamper critical disease research.” As one of the leading universities in the nation, Harvard’s fear of the consequences of these initiatives is incredibly damaging to the image of the nation as a whole.
It receives billions in endowments, yet they are still protesting for these $2 billion because of the principle. The idea of a public government having such a hold on the top private universities is very worrying for smaller universities that may not have the same power or funds.
Motivations
The Trump administration attempts to hold these funds back in hopes of having some control over the private decisions that Harvard makes, such as their diversity initiatives and internal policies. However, the entire system seems too close to blackmail for the Harvard administration since most of their annual profit is spent towards research, which is now being threatened.
Another motivation for the grant freezes is a push towards anti-semitism policy, which the Trump administration believes is synonymous with the pro-Palestinian protests that happened last year. Similar activities occurred at Columbia, where they conceded to demands after many federal funds were threatened as well.
A Look to the Future
The move as a whole seems to be part of an anti-educational policy that the Trump administration is championing. With the dissolution of the Department of Education, it is uncertain how the future of learning will be affected. Though many people believe in “wait it out,” the amount of changes that would need to be reversed is immense and might be overshadowed by other pressing matters.
However, there is hope with the Big Ten Academic Alliance forming the Mutual Academic Defense Compact in an attempt to fight Trump’s initiatives. There is power in numbers, and large coalitions may persuade the administration to reconsider freezing funds. Ohio State has recently joined, and Penn State may be in talks to join as well.
All in all, the future may be uncertain, but universities are certainly not following the demands of the government without a fight. What are your thoughts on Trump’s federal grant freezes? Let @VALLEYmag know on Instagram!
Related
How Trump’s Tariffs Are Coming For Gen Z’s Shopping Habits
Trump Administration Makes Middle School Mistake
A Few Mad Men: Trump’s Foreign Policy
My developer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on numerous websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another platform. I have heard good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I will immediately grab your rss as I can’t find your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Hey there, You have done an incredible job. I’ll certainly digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Some truly wonderful information, Sword lily I detected this.
certainly like your web-site but you have to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the reality on the other hand I’ll certainly come again again.
I’m now not certain where you are getting your information, but good topic. I must spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for wonderful info I used to be on the lookout for this information for my mission.
The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
Sweet blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks