Trump is Coming after Your Alma Mater Next

President Donald Trump does not just want to weaken or destroy Harvard University.  Trump and his lackeys have a more ambitious goal: they want to control the entire US system of higher education.  They have announced that they will next attack the University of California system…and then many other institutions across the nation.   

Trump’s latest ploy is to deny Harvard permission to enroll international students.  That could be a major hit, both to Harvard’s finances and its role as a research institution.  About 25% of its students are foreigners.  If this maneuver succeeds, it will shrink and diminish Harvard.  The university would lose the global network it has built over decades to spread knowledge and expose foreign students to American values. 

The administration will also limit the number of international students who study anywhere in the US.  Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered embassies and consulates to stop interviewing students who have applied to American institutions, pending “a review of their social media accounts”.  That means looking for anti-Trump or pro-Palestinian messages.  The government will also sharply curtail visas for Chinese students.

Many top US universities have even higher percentages of foreign students than Harvard does--for some, it’s in the 40-50% range.  At most colleges, international students usually pay full tuition, unlike many American students, so they are a critical source of revenue for private and public institutions.  As result, many colleges would be badly hurt by Trump’s latest squeeze play.  

Trump is attacking universities because he wants to crush any possible centers of opposition, as he moves swiftly to install a dictatorship.  

But there are also other terrible “side effects” to his campaign: 

·      Inflicting massive damage upon the American economy

·      Crippling the US ecosystem for medical and scientific research

·      Destroying the US’ reputation abroad

·      Weakening our ability to compete with China

·      Closing the American mind

To win this battle, American colleges and universities must band together.  They must form a mutual defense pact and provide funds to entities, such as Harvard and Columbia, that have so far borne the brunt of Trump’s assault.  They should launch a massive campaign to educate the public about their contributions to civil society and the US economy.  The only way they can beat Trump is by winning the battle for public opinion. 

President Donald Trump/photo: Getty Images

Next target: the University of California

Harvard is only the tip of the iceberg.  The administration will soon harass many other top educational institutions.  As usual, the pretexts are alleged tolerance of antisemitism and diversity initiatives that Trump opposes--even though they are not illegal.  Senator Joe McCarthy saw communists everywhere, during his witch hunt in the 1950s.  In similar fashion, Trump sees antisemites and “radical leftist Marxists” throughout the academic world. 

The University of California system should expect “massive lawsuits”, said Leo Terrell, who leads the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force.   Terrell added that the DOJ will probably also sue universities “on the East Coast, on the West Coast, and in the Midwest”.   The Trump regime published a hit list of 60 institutions in March, and it looks like they will go after all of them.   Trump has not gone to war only against Harvard, but against all major institutions with a liberal bent. 

Deploying the Civil Rights Act Against Minorities

In a macabre twist, the administration is using the Civil Rights Act as a weapon against universities, claiming that they discriminate against white men and in favor of minorities.   

This is a blatant misuse of the Civil Rights Act.  This tactic also shows the administration’s hypocrisy.  While Trump pursues bogus claims of racial discrimination against institutions, his apparatchiks have fired or pushed out scores of DOJ lawyers who worked to protect the rights of Black Americans, Latinos and other groups.  Attorney General Pam Bondi has dismantled most of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. 

Huge Economic Hit

On a May 27 conference call with Harvard alumni, Massachusetts Governor Healey (Harvard ’92) emphasized the damage that Trump’s war on the university could inflict upon her state’s economy: 

·      Harvard is the fourth largest employer in Massachusetts

·      The university generates $6 billion in revenue for the state’s economy

·      International students contribute $400 million to the local economy

Gov. Healey said that Trump was not just attacking the Massachusetts economy but the overall US economy.  (The other 60 universities on Trump’s hit list serve as engines of economic growth for their cities and states.) The Governor stressed that those are only the directly quantifiable effects.  Healey said that Trump’s attacks on international students have already undercut the US’s ability to attract and retain talented people from abroad: students, faculty and future entrepreneurs who launch start-ups and other businesses.  

Healey added that international and American students have started to look at opportunities in other countries.  The governor is clearly worried that a brain drain has begun and might accelerate soon.  

Reliance on International Students

The Trump Administration is pointing a dagger at American colleges, and the US economy, by attacking international students, literally as well as figuratively.  Over the last 25 years, the number of foreign students has doubled to 1.1 million.  To buttress Gov. Healey’s point, they contributed about $43 billion to the US economy in 2023-24.  

The rise in foreign students reflects numerous factors.  Colleges want to attract international students to create a vibrant, diverse cultural and intellectual mix.  But there’s a powerful economic incentive, too, because foreign students generally pay full tuition.  Ironically, that may not be true for Harvard, which admits students first and then asks about their financial situation.  

Both private and public institutions have relied on revenue from international students to subsize lower tuitions for American students. In the case of public systems like the University of California, they increased their international enrollment to offset reductions in public funding. 

International students have been a boon for many universities as well as for the US economy.  Most students have come from India and China and focus on science, technology and math.  Many have stayed and played major roles in helping the US dominate the technology sector.  At one point, 25% of tech company CEOs came from abroad. 

An Achilles Heel? 

But now, international students could become an Achilles heel, because institutions depend so heavily on them.  For several top schools, international students represent about 40% of their total enrollment, including undergrads and grads: 

·      Carnegie Mellon (44%, to be precise)

·      Columbia

·      Johns Hopkins

·      New York University

And for these institutions, it is about 30%:

·      Caltech

·      University of Chicago

·      Boston University

·      Massachusetts Institute of Technology

For twenty universities, 20-30% of students are foreigners, and for many others, they comprise at least 15%.  Most major institutions would be severely damaged if the Trump administration slashes the number of foreign students—or drives them away with its authoritarian tactics. 

We Can’t Rely on The Courts

A Federal district judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order that banned the government from revoking Harvard’s permission to admit graduate students. That is a welcome, temporary reprieve. However, this administration has defied several court orders, and it has ramped up its rhetoric on restricting international students after the court issued its decision. We should expect the government to seek ways to circumvent the order.

Crippling The Research Ecosystem

It is not a coincidence that the Trump regime’s first three targets—Columbia, Harvard and the UC system—are in very Blue states.   But institutions in Red states are also getting hit hard.   The University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee, and Ole Miss conduct research projects for the US government, and their grants are being cut back.   The vastly increased tax on endowments will affect conservative institutions like Hillsdale College.  

Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon say that it is a “privilege” for universities to receive Federal funding.  They claim that institutions like Harvard that lose their funding should dig into their endowments or pare back their “bloated bureaucracies”.   They are misleading the public by implying that the Federal government provides the universities with “free money” to support their overall operations. 

US Pays Universities for Critical Services

In fact, the government is paying the universities for essential services they are rendering: conducting complex research projects on medical and scientific challenges.  The US government started funding such research projects shortly after World War II. This collaboration has a been a win-win for the country and the academic sector, leading to many important discoveries. 

Research teams go through a rigorous approval process to get grants.  The funds are awarded for specific projects—not to pay for a university’s general operations.   They do not pay for lavish dorms or large bureaucracies.  Research grants are not a gift; they are national investments that have paid off handsomely.  

By cutting off research grants, the Trump administration is destroying one of America’s great competitive advantages.  The greatest beneficiary will be China, which is plowing vast sums into research and catching up with the US in many areas.  Other likely beneficiaries are Canada, Great Britain and perhaps Australia, because bright, English-speaking students from abroad will seek greener pastures than the intellectual desert known as America.  

A Clueless President   

It's doubtful that President Trump understands how the research grants function and how the government reaps large benefits from the projects.  This is, after all, a man who can’t even grasp how tariffs work.  Trump recently said that he would “give” to trade schools the $3 billion that he is taking away from Harvard.  But trade schools don’t conduct specialized research projects that can lead to new drugs or scientific discoveries.  And, as we have discussed, the government does not simply “give” money to Harvard and other research institutions. 

The Closing of the American Mind

Trump’s tyrannical tactics have already created a deeply chilling effect on campuses.  Danielle Hall, a Harvard Law professor, speaking on the May 27 conference call, said that some Harvard faculty members feared being deported.   They are engaging in self-censorship, being more “careful” about what they publish or which conferences they attend.  Many foreign students are also worried about ICE showing up. 

The administration is imposing ideological litmus tests on foreign students.  This is profoundly undemocratic.  The government is throwing people out of the country, without due process, because they espouse political views that are critical of the administration or are pro-Palestinian.  Trump is creating a hostile environment that is stifling freedom of expression and could cause many talented foreigners—and Americans—to leave the US.  

And Trump’s move to prevent Chinese students from studying in the US is downright xenophobic.  The government claims that it wants to ferret out spies for the Chinese Communist Party, but the State Department already vets foreign students very carefully. 

This is just the preamble.  If Trump brings US universities under his thumb, American students will become isolated, frightened and cautious in their thinking and expression.  That’s happened in every dictatorship, and it could happen here. 

What Can You Do?

So fight back.  Support Harvard, which is bearing the brunt of the attacks right now, by giving to Crimson Courage.  Or donate to the American Association of University Professors, which has filed six lawsuits against the Trump administration.   And, of course, please support your alma mater if Trump attacks it at some point.  

This is an existential battle to preserve freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.  In short, it’s a battle to defend our democracy.  

The Wall Street Democrat