The Trump administration has recently escalated its destructive and illegal attacks on the core freedoms of American colleges and universities, which we have called on it to halt (Fortune, April 8). The demands issued to Harvard University (in an April 11 letter), followed by the freezing of $2.2 billion of federal research funds along with threats to Harvard’s tax-exempt status, violate no less than the freedom of all colleges and universities to admit students, hire faculty, and govern themselves consistently with the law, the First Amendment, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and long-standing principles of academic freedom. As current and former presidents of academic institutions, we strongly support Harvard’s President Alan Garber, who has rejected the calls for on these grounds whereas the Trump administration threatens to demand management of quite a few different faculties. Simply over three miles from Harvard Sq. is the Boston Tea Occasion web site the place, in 1773, American patriots fought authorities tyranny.
When the Trump administration situations federal grants and contracts to universities on these calls for, it threatens all Individuals. Larger schooling is the best supply of U.S. international competitiveness, cultural enrichment, and studying. By partnering with the federal authorities for many years, American universities have made lifesaving discoveries and elevated the prosperity, security, safety, and creativity of our nation. When the Trump administration insists on anybody’s compliance with doubtless unlawful and unconstitutional situations, it’s threatening everybody’s freedom from arbitrary rule. When it insists on controlling the admission of scholars, school hiring, and governance of a college, additionally it is threatening a major supply of the chance and financial prosperity of all Individuals. Everyone knows from Martin Neimoller’s haunting lament, this authoritarian incursion doesn’t finish with Harvard.
Authors:
Edward Ayers, College of Richmond (Virginia)
Kimberly Benston, Haverford School (Pennsylvania)
Katherine Bergeron, Connecticut School (Connecticut)
Henry Bienen, Northwestern College (Illinois)
Lee Bollinger, Columbia College (New York), College of Michigan (Michigan)
Phil Boroughs, SJ, School of the Holy Cross (Massachusetts)
William Brody, Salk Institute, The Johns Hopkins College (Maryland)
Robert Brown, Boston College (Massachusetts)
Alison Byerly, Carleton School (Minnesota)
Albert Carnesale, College of California – Los Angeles (California)
Carol T. Christ, College of California – Berkeley (California)
Mary Sue Coleman, College of Michigan (Michigan), College of Iowa (Iowa)
Ron Crutcher, Wheaton School (Massachusetts)
Nicholas Dirks, College of California – Berkeley (California)
Adam Falk, Williams School (Massachusetts)
Jonathan Fanton, The New College (New York)
Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard College (Massachusetts)
Wayne A. I. Frederick, Howard College (Washington DC)
Stephen Friedman, Tempo College (New York)
Amy Gutmann, College of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania)
Phil Hanlon, Dartmouth School (New Hampshire)
Robert Head, Rockford College (Illinois)
Mark A. Heckler, Valparaiso College (Indiana)
John Hennessy, Stanford College (California)
Catharine Bond Hill, Vassar School (New York)
Jonathan Holloway, Rutgers College (New Jersey)
Freeman Hrabowski, The College of Maryland, Baltimore County (Maryland)
Nan Keohane, Duke College (North Carolina), Wellesley School (Massachusetts)
Brit Kirwan, College System of Maryland (Maryland)
Bernie Machen, College of Florida (Florida)
Gail Mellow, LaGuardia Group School – Metropolis College of New York (New York)
Pat McGuire, Trinity Washington College (Washington DC)
Anthony Monaco, Tufts College (Massachusetts)
Richard Morrill, Centre School (Kentucky)
M. Duane Nellis, Ohio College (Ohio), Texas Tech College (Texas), College of Idaho (Idaho)
Lynn Pasquerella, Mount Holyoke School (Massachusetts)
Laurie Patton, Middlebury School (Vermont)
Susan Poser, Hofstra College (New York)
Steven Poskanzer, Carleton School (Minnesota)
Gregory Prince, Hampshire School (Massachusetts)
Stuart Rabinowitz, Hofstra College (New York)
L. Rafael Reif, Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (Massachusetts)
Kevin Reilly, College of Wisconsin (Wisconsin)
L. Tune Richardson, Colorado School (Colorado)
Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan College (Connecticut)
George Rupp, Rice College (Texas), Columbia College (New York)
Leonard A. Schlesinger, Babson School (Massachusetts)
Mark Schlissel, College of Michigan (Michigan)
Jake Schrum, Emory & Henry School (Virginia), Southwestern College (Texas), Texas Wesleyan College (Texas)
Allen Sessoms, Queens School, Metropolis College of New York (New York), Delaware State College (Delaware), College of the District of Columbia (Washington DC)
Donna Shalala, College of Miami (Florida), College of Wisconsin-Madison (Wisconsin), Hunter School of the Metropolis College of New York (New York)
Robert Sternberg, College of Wyoming (Wyoming)
Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman School (Georgia)
Lara Tiedens, Scripps School (California)
Steve Trachtenberg, George Washington College (Washington DC)
Laura Walker, Bennington School (Vermont)
Daniel H. Weiss, Haverford School (Pennsylvania), Lafayette School (Pennsylvania)
Julie Wollman, Widener College (Pennsylvania)
Meredith Woo, Candy Briar School (Virginia)
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary items are solely the views of their authors and don’t essentially mirror the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
