Dimming America's Beacons to the World

New York Times

16 hours ago

To the Editor:
Re 'Fulbright Board Resigns, Citing Political Interference' (news article, June 12):
Your reporting on the mass resignation of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board captures a seismic moment in American public diplomacy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his head of public diplomacy, Darren Beattie, have crossed a line that generations of diplomats, scholars and public servants refused to cross. They have politicized and undermined the Fulbright program, bringing dishonor to one of America's most respected global institutions.
This is not bureaucratic reshuffling. It's a complete breach of the bipartisan mission to promote peace and understanding through education and cross-cultural exchange.
I had the honor to serve as chair of the binational Fulbright commissions in Poland and Colombia. I've seen how Fulbright advances U.S. interests through something more enduring than force: academic excellence and mutual understanding.
Senator Fulbright believed that empathy and education could help prevent conflict. The program was designed to erode the mistrust that sets nations against each other — not to serve short-term political agendas.
Overriding merit-based selections. Subjecting scholars to unauthorized reviews. This isn't how you lead the world. It's how you lose it.
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