Entire Fulbright board quits, citing Trump administration interference
All 12 members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned on Tuesday, saying that the Trump administration "has usurped the authority of the Board" and denied a "substantial" number of its chosen recipients.
Why it matters: It's the latest example of the Trump administration's attempts to reconfigure higher education anywhere that it has influence.
Driving the news: The board resigned in an open letter, calling the Trump administration's actions "unprecedented," and "impermissible under the law."
The board alleged that the current administration not only denied Fulbright awards to individuals that the board had chosen for the 2025-2026 academic year, but that it is also currently subjecting 1,200 foreign Fulbright recipients to an "unauthorized review process and could reject more."
The board said that this contradicts the Fulbright-Hays Act, which gives the board final approval authority of applicants.
The State Department did not respond to an immediate request for comment, and the board's chairman referred Axios to the statement.
What they're saying: The board said that the Trump administration's meddling was out of step with the program's "bipartisan" history.
"Under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, the Board has followed the law, operating with independence pursuant to its statutory mandate," the board wrote.
"Injecting politics and ideological mandates into the Fulbright program violates the letter and spirit of the law that Congress so wisely established nearly eight decades ago."
The board also said that it has raised its legal objections to senior administration officials "on multiple occasions," but that they have "refused to acknowledge or respond."
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