Ohio State faculty to vote on joining Big Ten coalition against Trump's actions
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Faculty senates at at least five Big Ten universities are joining forces to stand against President Donald Trump's ongoing attacks against higher education, and many Ohio State University faculty intend to follow suit.
Ohio State faculty will vote this week to determine if they will join the Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC), a coalition of schools in the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The movement is led by university faculty responding to 'legal, financial and political' attacks on academic freedoms and individual universities.
University Senate is composed of 141 faculty, students, staff and administrators, including English professor Jill Galvan. Galvan said the Senate Faculty Council will meet Thursday to discuss a resolution to join the MADC.
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'Why not pool legal resources and support each other and develop strategy together, instead of each going it alone?' Galvan said. 'Collective action makes us stronger and more capable of protecting our students, our research, and our teaching.'
The movement began at Rutgers University, where the faculty senate passed a resolution on March 28 to establish the compact among the 18 universities in the Big Ten. Among them, the schools represent more than 600,000 students and thousands of instructors.
Ohio State faculty would join faculty senate bodies at Rutgers, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Indiana University at Bloomington, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Michigan State. Universities joining the MADC were told they should be willing to make legal counsel, experts and public affairs offices available to any institution facing pressure from the Trump Administration. A fund would also be created to provide financial support.
'The idea is that we're all facing the same threats of defunding from the federal government, and nationwide, our students are having their visas revoked and being threatened with deportation,' Galvan said.
The visas of at least 12 Ohio State international students have been revoked, a concern among all Big Ten schools. Ohio State has also been singled out by the Trump administration twice, once because of alleged discrimination for partnering with a nonprofit, the PhD Project, and one for alleged antisemitism. Ohio State denied both and said it does not discriminate. See previous coverage of Trump and OSU in the video player above.
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Ohio State's participation would be significant, as it has the highest enrollment among the Big Ten Academic Conference. OSU is also Vice President JD Vance's alma mater, and the Ohio State football team was honored at the White House on April 14 for its national championship victory.
Ohio State's Senate Faculty Council has already passed two resolutions condemning perceived attacks on higher education. On March 18, 60 of 71 faculty senators were present to vote on a resolution to condemn Ohio State's closure of two diversity offices after threats of federal funding cuts. The resolution condemning the closures passed 40-11, with nine abstaining. The same day, a resolution in support of academic freedom passed 52-6 with two abstaining.
An Ohio State spokesperson said the university does not speak for University Senate and was unable to comment.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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