University presidents aren't capitulating, they say. They're ‘adapting.'

Boston Globe

31-03-2025

Described as pragmatism by supporters and capitulation by critics, these strategies are a response to the
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Rather than soaring rhetoric about democracy and the First Amendment, university leaders are generally responding with tactical maneuvers and persuasion designed to soften the blows and nudge public opinion in their favor.
'Higher ed is under attack,' said Marlene Tromp, the
Some critics warn that if universities do not defend themselves, the pressure from Trump will undermine core values, such as independence and academic freedom.
Moreover, concessions are not necessarily insulating schools from further scrutiny — or sparing the officials behind them. Late Friday, Columbia University
In recent interviews, university administrators and presidents described their approach as 'adapting' to a new political reality.
The University of Michigan, once heralded as a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion,
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The university said it would give dozens of new security officers the power to arrest students in a bid to control campus protests. It agreed to promote intellectual diversity among the faculty to counter any liberal slant. It placed a Middle East studies department, which had been criticized by the Trump administration, under new oversight.
Some Columbia professors reacted furiously to the concessions.
When interim president Armstrong gave faculty leaders private assurances on a Zoom call that the concessions were not as significant as they seemed, her
Columbia political science professor Tim Frye speaks out at Columbia AAUP's press conference.
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Columbia political science professor Tim Frye spoke out at an AAUP press conference in response to Columbia's concessions to the Trump administration's demands.
To critics, the fallout at Columbia underscores the risks of the conciliatory approach.
'Capitulating will only encourage' the Trump administration to demand more and 'universities will be inclined to give more,' said Vincent Brown, a Harvard professor of history and African American Studies.
'Don't hear me saying this is not a dangerous moment,' Brown said. 'I understand where the caution comes from. It's not in the interest of any one university president to confront the Trump administration, but the only way is to do it together.'
Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, has sounded a similar note of alarm. He has compared the Trump administration's policies to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Órban's takeover of his country's universities. 'Appeasement right now is a disastrous policy,' he said. Vice President JD Vance
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But Roth is an outlier among his peers. When he has reached out to other presidents to organize a unified resistance, he said, he 'get[s] some cold shoulders.'
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Some liberal donors are also mad. After Dartmouth hired Matt Raymer, the former RNC lawyer, Meg Krilov, a New York doctor and graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, canceled a meeting with the college's fund-raising office. Raymer, in an op-ed in January, had
In a moment of terror for many immigrants, when
Jana Barnello, a Dartmouth spokesperson, said Raymer's op-ed 'presented a scholarly legal argument contributing to the broader conversation on a widely discussed topic.'
Trump and his allies contend universities are dominated by
One reason university leaders, including board members, have been open to engaging conservatives, rather than forcefully resisting, is because many agree with at least some parts of Trump's diagnosis, according to professors and current and former university leaders.
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Presidents, board members, and some factions of school faculties have come to believe universities became overly politicized by
issues, such as Black Lives Matter or abortion rights. Some also worried about a chilling effect
on campus discourse as controversial topics, such as gender identity or affirmative action, began to feel off limits.
In a Harvard
'We have lost the ability to have reasoned debate,' said James Applegate, a professor of astronomy at Columbia University who cofounded a faculty group, the Academic Freedom Council, to promote 'open inquiry, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse.' The problem used to spring from 'left-wing illiberalism on campus,' Applegate said. Now universities also face 'right-wing illiberalism'
but with the added force of the federal government, he said.
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For some, the campus turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war — which led to campus occupations and the
At the same time, public approval for higher education
Last month, Elliott attended a '
according to a video of the event. But he also defended diversity programs, pushing back against a conservative critique that academic excellence and DEI are at odds.
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We need to 'speak directly to our critics,' he said in a recent interview.
Elliott is one of many leaders who have been traveling to Washington since Trump's election to lobby for American universities.
The presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dartmouth, and other top institutions have met with Republican lawmakers and administration officials to make the case that elite universities, and especially their research operations, serve the national interest and should be preserved, according to people familiar with the meetings.
They have focused especially on their contributions to US national security, economic competitiveness, and medical advances.
Harvard president Alan Garber, at the university's 373rd Commencement on May 23, 2024.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
But schools have also pushed back, using the courts more than the bully pulpit. MIT, with
At the same time, they've made subtle defenses of liberal values when speaking directly to students, staff, and faculty. 'Everyone benefits when all are welcomed,' Harvard president
Hundreds of Harvard professors in
One of those professors, Andrew Manuel Crespo, said there is only one way to stop the Trump administration from causing irreparable damage to US universities, and other institutions such as elite law firms that have been targeted by the Trump administration in recent weeks.
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'The only hope for these institutions is sectorwide solidarity,' Crespo said. University leaders 'have to realize that we will each keep getting targeted individually and crumble unless we make a stand together.'
In a perfect world, one Massachusetts university president said, leaders would do just that. But collective resistance does not seem feasible, or likely to succeed, in the face of the Trump administration's threats, this official said, requesting anonymity for fear of making his institution a target of the administration.
Caution, therefore, is the order of the day.
'I do believe that university presidents have an obligation to protect their students first, and that might mean protecting them from federal government cuts that could hurt their ability to get a college education,' the Massachusetts leader said.
'Universities are places where people need to have freedom of speech and freedom of expression,' he said. 'But for university leaders, it's important not to jeopardize the students they serve.'
Mike Damiano can be reached at