Eight-point-seven billion. Four-hundred million. One-hundred-seventy-five million. These are just some examples of the money the federal government has withheld or is threatening to withhold from various colleges and universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Harvard University. That $8.7 billion figure was announced earlier this week by the Trump administration, which said that it's reviewing federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard because Harvard has not done enough to curb antisemitism on campus.Some educators say the administration's moves to cut funding at colleges and universities amounts to a war on higher education. But the loss of those funds will be felt far beyond the college campuses. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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8.7 billion, 400 million, 175 million. These are just some examples of the money that the federal government has withheld or is threatening to withhold from various colleges and universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Harvard University.
That $8.7 billion figure was announced earlier this week by the Trump administration, which said that it's reviewing federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard because Harvard has not done enough to curb anti-Semitism on campus. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon explained the bold actions on NewsNation last month.
This is not a question of free speech. This is a question of violence on campus. This is a question of students being afraid to go to class or to walk around campus. Jewish students who are just really being discriminated against.
But Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley sees something else happening with these threats over money.
The federal government, this fascist regime, has figured out a way to target funds to universities. And what we're seeing are democratic institutions across the United States, including universities, capitulate to these demands.
Stanley believes that ultimatums tied to federal funding are such a threat to academic freedom that he's leaving Yale University and the United States altogether to teach American Studies at the University of Toronto.
You can't win a war unless you recognize it's a war. This way, they're going to pick us off one by one. And history is watching here. If universities want to fight antisemitism, they need to stand up and say, no, we are not threats to American Jews. You are threatening American Jews. What's happening is like what Stalin did in the Soviet Union, setting up large groups of people for popular rage.
Stanley is also the author of two books on fascism, and he says he sees that whole history as a cautionary tale here. It's played into his decision to leave.
My work over the last decade has been calling attention to the rise of fascism in the United States. And you can only write so much. At some point, you have to do something.
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