Dan Drezner, a political scientist at Tufts University, recently wrote that the Trump administration “is trying to kill American higher education,” and while that phrasing might’ve seemed hyperbolic, there are ample data points to bolster the thesis.
Over the course of the president’s second term, Donald Trump and his team have waged a multifaceted campaign to bring universities to heel, cutting off grants, targeting tax exemptions, proposing tax increases on university endowments, taking steps to block international students, targeting schools’ accreditation and seeking unprecedented control over how prominent academic institutions function.
Alas, that’s not all they’re doing. The New York Times reported:
The University of Virginia’s president, James E. Ryan, has told the board overseeing the school that he will resign in the face of demands by the Trump administration that he step aside to help resolve a Justice Department inquiry into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to three people briefed on the matter.
The developments have been confirmed by NBC News, The Washington Post and The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, where the university is located.
The trouble apparently began when the Justice Department opened an investigation into the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, which was itself a radical move. As the process unfolded and Trump’s DOJ concluded that the University of Virginia hadn’t gone far enough to destroy its DEI programs, the school’s oversight board — the members of which were appointed by the commonwealth’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin — reportedly reached out to administration officials, asking what could be done to avoid Trump-imposed punishments.
According to a separate New York Times report, the Justice Department replied that the administration would back off if the university’s president resigned.
“Time is running short, and the department’s patience is wearing thin,” one recent letter from a DOJ official told the oversight board.
This was, the Times added, “the first time the administration has pushed a university to remove its leader.” If the reporting is accurate, the circumstances are rather bonkers. The Republican administration launched an unnecessary investigation into a prominent university and concluded that the school cared too much about having a diverse student body. It was at that point that the institution was forced to confront extortion-like tactics: Oust the university president, or face the kind of consequences the White House has already imposed on other schools that refused to appease Trump’s demands. Note: The president doesn’t have the legal authority to fire a university president on his own, but by embracing these heavy-handed tactics, he doesn’t need the authority; Trump and his confederates can simply force the issue by way of credible threats. When making a list of the president and his team embracing an authoritarian-style tactics, be sure to include “trying to dictate how universities operate” to the growing list.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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