The Board Of A Prestigious Program Resigns After Accusing Trump Of Political Interference

Yahoo

a day ago

The entire board of the Fulbright program, which fosters international education through an exchange program, quit on Wednesday after accusing the Trump administration of illegal interference, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times.
The program, which is administered by the U.S. State Department, awards scholarships to American researchers, professors and educators to go abroad.
In the memo, the 12 board members stated that the Trump administration had illegally canceled scholarships for nearly 200 professors and researchers who were set to travel to international institutions this summer after completing a lengthy selection process.
These scholars were supposed to receive acceptance letters in April, but the board discovered that they had received letters of rejection. The rejections were largely due to their area of research, including biology, architecture and agriculture, the board said.
'[T]he current administration has usurped the authority of the Board and denied Fulbright awards to a substantial number of individuals who were selected for the 2025-2026 academic year,' board members wrote in the memo.
They also wrote that they were concerned the Trump administration would wrongfully reject international scholars who are slated to come to the U.S. through the program.
'We believe these actions not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the Fulbright mission and the values, including free speech and academic freedom, that Congress specified in the statute,' the memo said.
The mass resignation of the Fulbright board is the latest development in the Trump administration's ongoing attacks on higher education. As part of the broader effort to stifle dissent from public institutions, the federal government has threatened to withdraw funding from colleges and universities unless they allow the federal government to regulate what is taught and who is admitted.
As part of the attacks on colleges, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has hastily canceled international student visas and detained foreign college students with pro-Palestinian views. Rubio also announced last month that the government was pausing new interviews for foreign student visas so that it could 'vet' social media accounts of applicants.
One of the administration's main targets is Harvard University. The feud with the university began when the prestigious institution declined to acquiesce to Trump's lengthy list of demands, which included a complete upheaval of the Ivy League school's hiring and admissions practices.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order banning Harvard's international students from entering the U.S., jeopardizing the funds that the school receives from international students who usually pay full tuition and contribute millions of dollars to the local economy.
One day later, a federal judge halted Trump's attempt to block international students from going to Harvard.
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