Republican leaders at Hillsdale, Austin and Harvard University are divided from a left-leaning culture.
President Donald Trump’s team has frozen or reduced taxpayer-funded research, pressuring universities to close diversity, equity and inclusion offices and curb anti-Semitism on campuses that have been linked to anti-Israel protests.
The administration calls protests and some academic programs anti-Semitism, but many of the academics defend them on the grounds of freedom of speech.
After Harvard refused to accept requests related to these and other issues, the administration frozen the $2.6 billion federal dollar that it thought would go to the Ivy League flagship.
Trump plans to withhold another $1 billion from Harvard and is debating revoking the school’s tax-free status.
Related Stories
In response, many in academia denounced what was called an attack on the core values of higher education.
Not everyone in that world agrees.
Hillsdale University leaders, known for their conservative culture, and Austin University, a new school billed as an alternative to progressive ideology on campus, have made various conclusions about academic freedom and the relationship between federal funding and the university system.
“I think what we’re looking at today shows the need and importance of independence,” David Warren, associate vice president of Hillsdale’s curriculum, told the Epoch Times.
Hillsdale does not accept taxpayer money. The University of Michigan is also careful not to accept private donations that may undermine its mission.
“No one gives money without conditions,” said Whalen, a professor of English who serves as vice president of the curriculum. He said that Hillsdale’s take away money from the Trump administration would be a “terrifying mistake.”
More than 1,200 miles away in Austin, Texas, Patrick Gray believes administration pressure on taxpayer-funded universities is a form of accountability from Americans.
After all, it comes from the president they elected.
Gray, dean of the Austin University Center for Arts and Letters, told the Epoch Times.
Merit-oriented universities are designed to avoid relying on federal funds, and have raised more than $200 million so far.
Unlike Hillsdale, however, it’s comfortable to get federal money from an administration that suits its value at least.
If future funds have more specific strings attached (for example, support for DEI), the university must reject it.
Even at Harvard, the heart of the escalating battle between Trump and the Academy, parts of the campus sound like grey.
“I think it’s within the right of the federal government that limits the funds paid by taxpayers,” Leo Corner, the club president of the Harvard Republican, told the Epoch Times.
You might expect university GOP youth groups to support a Republican president, but that hasn’t always been the case with Trump at Harvard.
Harvard University Tour Group will look into the university’s closure gates on April 29, 2024. Alice Giordano/Epoch Times
Freedom and responsibility
Academic freedom is a central point of discrepancy between the administration and its detractors in higher education.
However, the politics of many schools raises questions about what academic freedom actually means.
That climate shaped Koaner’s perspective on the discussion of academic freedom.
“We’re basically no longer without conservative professors,” he said. He argued that academic freedom has little meaning when campuses are highly ideologically homogeneous.
Koerner added that sympathy can be gained when university administrators launch employment policies and commit to encourage diversity in the perspectives of graduate students.
The administration hopes Harvard will implement merit-based employment and admissions and that deviations and deviations from DEI and violations of American civil rights merits will be terminated in line with that view.
The letter also calls for reform of certain programs, claiming that it “reflects the capture of anti-Semitic harassment or ideological trauma.”
Hollen of Hillsdale said the Trump administration’s move is “an attempt to restore academic freedom and buttress.”
Both Whalen and Gray believe that university leaders are responsible for ensuring that they maintain incisive discussions on campus.
The nature of such politically charged conflicts has become a point of conflict during recent anti-Israel and Palestinian protests.
The student with the Gaza Solidarity Camp blocked the entrance to Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall after taking over it in New York on April 30, 2024. Marco Postigo Storel/AP
The demonstrations at Columbia University included the campus building, the acquisition of Hamilton Hall and the Quad camp.
“Universities should not allow rampaging violent anti-Semitism,” Gray said.
Whalen said the university must ensure that people who threaten civic debate “do not take hold.”
