​

On November 6, Donald Trump was re-elected as the President of the United States with JD Vance as Vice President. Since then, universities and the academic community nationally and internationally have been facing unprecedented challenges and pressures. V-Dem’s Academic Freedom Index (AFI) scores the United States 0.68 (on a scale of 0 to 1). While the most recent attacks on US universities are more threatening than ever, there has been a steady decline in academic freedom in the United States that goes as far back as 2014. 

The greatest threats to academic freedom in the United States are restrictions on research and teaching. The Academic Freedom Monitoring Project of Scholars at Risk has reported on interference in individual researchers’ freedom to express opinions on gender policies and state higher education policies, among other things. This is supported by a recent Inside Higher Ed/Hanover Research report which found that over 90 percent of faculty strongly or somewhat agree that academic freedom is under threat. The survey, which it is important to note was undertaken shortly before the 2024 elections, had roughly 1100 respondents–professors at 739 public and 376 private nonprofit colleges and universities. Nearly half of the respondents somewhat or strongly agreed that they were refraining from extramural speech due to the situation on their own campuses and/or the broader political environment. More than one third said they were not communicating with students in or out of class about things they previously might have. And 15 percent said they are not researching or publishing on topics they otherwise would have. Threats to academic freedom have become alarmingly worse since the election of Trump.

The most significant reductions in academic freedom in the United States also involve weakening university autonomy and a noticeable decline in freedom related to academic and cultural expression. The war in Gaza in particular has become a point of contention, with pro-Palestine student protests on campuses becoming the target of the current US administration’s systematic threats to academic freedom. 

In January, President Trump signed several executive orders that not only threaten academic freedom in the United States but also access to and the quality of education by targeting foreign students and faculty members. Among the many executive orders that President Trump issued on January 20, the one titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” aims to restrict the admission and speech of legalized aliens. Not only does the order mandate that legal aliens refrain from expressing “hostile attitudes” against vague qualities of the United States such as its “culture” or “government”, but it also prohibits legal aliens from supporting “designated terrorist organizations”. This means that international students will have to be extra careful when expressing opinions deviating from official US foreign policy or criticizing American society, which is fundamentally at odds with the purpose of universities as centres of critical thinking and discussion. Another executive order signed on January 29, titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” directs the Secretaries of State, Education, and Homeland Security to submit recommendations on how institutions of higher education can monitor and report on foreign students and faculty members based on grounds for inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3). The order states that institutions must report such activities, which could lead to investigations and, “if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.” Critics argue that these executive orders particularly target international students, faculty, and staff who have participated in  the advocacy for Palestinian rights, posing a direct threat to free speech on campuses. 

As an example, On March 8, Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who played a significant role in the Gaza protests at Columbia last year, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and disappeared for over 24 hours. According to his attorney, Khalil is a legal permanent resident but is currently being detained despite his status and in the absence  of specific charges against him. President Trump stated that Khalil’s arrest was the “first arrest of many to come”. “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” the US president wrote in a post on Truth Social. He added: “Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country – never to return again…We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.” A judge has temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation and has now ordered his case transferred to New Jersey federal court where he was first held prior to being moved to a Louisiana ICE facility. So far the Trump administration has ignored the court order. In his first reported remarks since being detained, Khalil referred to himself as a “political prisoner.”

On March 4, President Trump posted on a social media platform reiterating that all federal funding would stop for any higher education institution that fails to curb protests, “with agitators being imprisoned or permanently being deported from the States”.

On March 7, the multi-agency task force established by the Trump administration announced the withdrawal of $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University due to “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The university was among the first campuses to see a student-led Gaza Solidarity Encampment in the aftermath of Israel’s invasion of Gaza following the October 7 massacre. Columbia is among 10 schools on an official administration list the Department of Justice said may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty. Other schools on the list are Harvard University; George Washington University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California. The US Department of Education has also sent out letters to 60 universities that are under investigation for “antisemitic discrimination and harassment,” which includes the New School. The letters warn of potential enforcement actions if institutions do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus. The claim that these universities are hotbeds of antisemitism has been criticized by faculty at many of the listed schools, arguing that while some Jewish students complained that they felt unsafe, the vast majority of protesters were peaceful and many of the protest participants were themselves Jewish.  

The uncertainty of how much federal grant support universities stand to lose has led some schools to reduce the number of doctoral students admitted, in some cases reneging on offers that had already been made. At the University of Pennsylvania, administrators have asked departments in the School of Arts & Sciences, the university’s largest school, to cut the number of incoming Ph.D. students. Additionally, some schools are pre-emptively cutting their expenses as a precautionary measure. North Carolina State University announced on Feb. 14 that it was freezing most hiring. Stanford University announced on Feb. 26 that it was freezing staff hiring, citing “very significant risks” to the community. At the University of Louisville in Kentucky, President Kim Schatzel announced an “immediate pause” on faculty and staff hiring until July. The proposed funding cuts from the National Institutes of Health have also significantly impacted universities and graduate school admissions. The policy sharply reduces funds to universities and medical centers that do NIH-funded research, likely limiting the number of studies. The NIH is the world's largest biomedical institution, providing more than $40 billion annually for  health related research. It funds more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities and other research institutions, primarily in the US. The reduction in the size of NIH grants for institutions conducting medical research would have far-reaching effects, and not just for elite universities and the coastal states where many are located, but also could be NIH grants to numerous hospitals that conduct clinical research on major diseases, and to state universities across the country. Heather Pierce, senior director of science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges stated that “It’s not an overstatement to say that a slash this drastic in total research funding slows research.” Slower scientific progress, she said, would affect anyone who depends on the development of new treatments, medical interventions and diagnostic tools. As per a New York Times analysis, the 10 institutions that receive the most money from NIH stand to lose more than $100 million per year on average. 

President Trump also signed the executive order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which bans DEI policies in programs receiving federal funding. The order argues that DEI initiatives violate civil rights laws and have “stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities” for American citizens. Additionally, the order instructs the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education to provide guidance for colleges and universities on complying with the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that struck down race-conscious admissions policies. Furthermore, it orders the Education Department to select up to nine colleges that have endowments greater  than $1 billion to investigate as part of an effort “to deter DEI programs or principles.” Ivy League institutions and more than two dozen other colleges would be on the list for a potential inquiry. Some universities, especially ones in states with majority republican supporters, such as the University of Michigan and state colleges in Florida have preemptively started rethinking and changing their DEI programs to comply with the federal directives. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 106 anti-DEI bills have been proposed across 29 states, with 14 becoming law. These new regulations, along with the anticipation of further restrictions, have led to 232 adjustments in how universities promote diversity, equity, and inclusion across 34 states. 

The long-term effects of these executive orders and funding pauses remain uncertain, but their immediate impact on higher education is clear. International and undocumented students, faculty, and staff are particularly anxious about their futures in the country. Following Trump's initial immigration orders, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded a policy that previously protected campuses from ICE raids. Now, universities could face unannounced ICE enforcement actions, including arrests, affecting approximately 400,000 undocumented college students nationwide.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide  will continue to monitor the attacks on academic freedom  and calls upon  the US government to cease these attacks which undermine the core values of universities. We also urge the academic community and all others who care about the future of American universities to join forces and  stand up  in opposition to these attacks and to protect one of this country's greatest assets, its higher education system.​

​​​

​