Pro-Palestinian students protest on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, the United States. Photo Credit: Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has signed several executive orders that critics argue threaten not only academic freedom in the United States, but also access to and quality of education in the country, particularly targeting foreign and undocumented students and faculty members.
On January 20, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Protecting The United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.” The order claims to protect Americans by ensuring that individuals entering or residing in the country do not pose a security threat. It states: “The United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those aliens approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.” The order further mandates that foreign nationals must not exhibit “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” and must not support “designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.” The order not only requires legal aliens to avoid expressing “hostile attitudes” toward broadly defined aspects of the United States, such as its “culture” or “government,” but also forbids them from endorsing “designated terrorist organizations.”
During his first administration, Trump had imposed a travel ban on several predominantly Muslim nations, as well as North Korea and Venezuela. He also proposed limitations on student visas. This time, however, even those already in the country legally face heightened scrutiny and potential deportation.
On January 29, Trump signed another executive order titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” which further escalates concerns. It 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 these executive orders particularly target international students, faculty, and staff who have participated in advocacy for Palestinian rights, posing a direct threat to free speech on campuses.
In the lead-up to the election, Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, delivered alarming speeches targeting universities and professors. Trump has repeatedly claimed that American universities are controlled by “Marxist maniacs” who endanger free speech. He has also vowed to penalize institutions that fail to suppress pro-Palestinian activism and to deport international students who participated in campus protests. Similarly, Vance has taken a hardline stance, declaring in a speech that “if we want to achieve our goals for this country, we must aggressively and unapologetically confront universities.” He has also referred to professors as “the enemy.”
Right-wing and Zionist organizations have reportedly compiled information on students and faculty involved in pro-Palestine protests on U.S. campuses, leveraging AI to identify individuals and flag them as supporters of Hamas. These efforts include analyzing protest footage, cross-referencing images with online profiles, and creating detailed dossiers on foreign students and faculty members. One such organization, Betar US, has allegedly provided the Trump administration with a list containing information on approximately 100 university students and 20 faculty and staff members with U.S. visas, labeling them “pro-Hamas.” Betar US is advocating for the deportation of these individuals, arguing that they support terrorist organizations. The group’s website also hosts an active petition to ban Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) from university campuses.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in universities have also come under fire. For decades, DEI policies have helped reduce discrimination in higher education and expand access for marginalized groups. On January 21, Trump signed an executive order titled “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, the order outlines that the Education Department must pick up to nine colleges that have endowments worth more than $1 billion to investigate as part 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.
Speaking to University World News, PEN America’s Director of State and Higher Education Policy, Jeremy C Young stated that although colleges and universities are established at the state level, the language and directives in the executive order on DEI suggest that the administration could similarly issue an order redefining academic freedom to better align with the White House’s agenda. He pointed out that the key point of leverage is that, aside from four conservative Christian institutions, nearly all colleges and universities receive federal funding, whether through grants or federally backed student loans.
However, the changes to DEI policies are facing significant opposition. On February 3, a coalition of professors, diversity officers, and advocates for restaurant workers filed a federal lawsuit contesting Trump’s executive orders that restrict DEI initiatives in government, the private sector, and academia. The lawsuit contends that the President overstepped his authority in issuing these directives and aims to prevent their enforcement. On February 4, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) joined a lawsuit against President Trump’s executive orders on DEI, warning that their elimination endangers “the democratic purposes of higher education as a public good.”
These executive orders targeting higher education in the US signed by President Trump are part of a larger project of damaging the state of education in the country. He has also signed other executive orders that target K-12 education in the country that aims to end “radical indoctrination” in schooling.
The Trump administration also issued an order freezing billions in federal research funding. However the order spurred a legal challenge from a group of nonprofits, prompting a judge to initially order a temporary stay. The White House later said the order was rescinded but vowed to continue its efforts to review federal funding. However a pause on research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) remains in place. The NIH is the world's largest biomedical institution, providing more than $40 billion annually to health research. It funds more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities and other research institutions, primarily in the US. Speaking to Deutsche Welle–a German public state-owned international broadcaster, Kenneth Evans, an expert in science and technology public policy at Rice University, Texas, said the Trump administration has now made the US “a hostile place for researchers.” The funding freeze came in a package of executive orders that President Trump signed on January 27. The orders are designed to shift policies on several scientific issues, including climate and public health. Evans further stated that US colleges and universities are treading lightly, revising and shutting down programs and curricula that might run against Trump's orders.
The true impact of these executive orders and pause on funding are yet to come, however the immediate impact has been felt by the higher education community. International and undocumented students, faculty and staff in particular are fearing what this means for their future in the country. Since signing a slew of immigration related orders by President Trump during his first week in office, the Department of Homeland Security issued a directive rescinding a policy that had protected schools and colleges from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Colleges now could be subject to enforcement actions, including arrests by ICE officers, without advance notice. Around 400,000 college students nationwide are undocumented. Universities and colleges across the country have been emailing and informing their academic community of guidelines on how to interact with ICE officers and what documents they should have on them.
President Trump has also called for the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aligning with his “America First” agenda. USAID employs approximately 14,000 people, with two-thirds stationed overseas, according to the Congressional Research Service. The agency operates in over 60 countries and collaborates with many more, though much of its work is carried out by contracted organizations that receive USAID funding. USAID has a long-tradition of working with universities to harness their intellectual, research, community engagement and capacity building expertise to address some of the toughest development challenges. They have programmes like Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) which helps to fund scientists and engineers in developing countries, and the Feed the Future Innovation Labs which helps to train students in agricultural sciences. In 2023, 830 international higher education institutions received capacity-building support from USAID. Additionally, its higher education programs reached 95,700 students and contributed to 690 peer-reviewed publications. The shutting down of USAID will inevitably have consequences for research and the building of educational capacity in the developing countries where USAID was functioning. In Egypt, USAID was providing scholarships to around 1,077 students enrolled in Egyptian public and private universities. The suspension of USAID has put the futures of the funded students at risk. As a result, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research announced that out of concern for the future of the students, each university will commit to all the allocations and tuition fees that the USAID had allocated to scholarship students until the end of their second semester.
As a republican elect regent at the University of Michigan stated, “Trump is doing exactly what he said he’d do.”
Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) is deeply concerned by the executive orders signed by President Trump that target free speech and academic freedom in the name of protecting civil rights and free speech. We condemn the targeting of the academic community in the United States for expressing pro-Palestinian views in the name of curbing anti-semitism across university and college campuses. We are also concerned by how these immigration related orders will impact the thousands of undocumented students in the country and by the proposed bans placed on DEI initiatives in higher education and what they would mean for access to education for the marginalized in this country. We condemn the political pressure placed on higher education institutions and the efforts to limit academic freedom and call on the global community dedicated to upholding human rights to join our call.
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