By Rep. Laurie Osher, D-Orono
Earlier this month, institutions of higher education received a list of demands directly from the White House.
These letters from the Trump administration contained an ultimatum: Agree to our conditions, including limiting the number of international students on your campuses, and we will reward your schools with federal funding. Alternatively, if you choose to maintain your independence, we will cut off your access to the resources you need to sustain vital research and education.
It could be easy to miss this story among the flurry of current headlines as the U.S. grapples with a federal government shutdown and looming increases to health care premiums for millions of Americans. But as a scientist and state lawmaker representing Orono, home of the flagship campus of the University of Maine System, I am alarmed by its implications. Our institutions of higher education must maintain their independence, which means rejecting attempts by the federal government to control their decision-making.
The so-called “compact”, which White House officials have indicated will be extended to other institutions as well, is just the latest in a series of moves by the president and his administration to control our country’s colleges and universities.
In recent months, the Trump administration has cut or threatened to cut funding to many institutions, moved to revoke and restrict international student visas, and launched politically motivated investigations.
The pressure the administration has brought to bear on such high profile, well-resourced schools as Harvard University and Columbia University, for example, is ominous. If the federal government can bully and intimidate some of the oldest, most influential institutions in the country, imagine how devastating the pressure campaign could be on smaller institutions with tighter budgets.
To be clear, some of the conditions of the attempt to exert control over higher education sound benign, even laudable at face value. The “compact” demands schools freeze tuition for five years, for example. That does not change the fact that the administration is using the federal funding to exert control over higher education – and, by extension, freedom of inquiry, speech and thought – for political gain.
Our postsecondary schools play a critical role in our society as a whole. College campuses provide students with the opportunity to develop their skills in order to compete in the workforce and enable the pursuit of knowledge that has allowed us to attain a higher standard of living and a more technologically advanced society.
Beyond that, these institutions are vital to the strength of our democracy. A high-quality education – free from government interference or intimidation – not only equips students with knowledge but also with the ability to evaluate arguments critically and engage with other points of view productively. Education provides us with the context to make sense of the challenges we face and fosters the ability to work together to overcome them.
International students contribute greatly to the value of a higher education. Talented students from around the world stimulate billions of dollars in U.S. economic activity each year – in addition to the immeasurable value of having a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds at the table.
It is not hyperbole to say that the administration’s crackdown on freedom of thought and speech on college campuses threatens our democratic institutions more broadly. I urge Maine colleges and universities – and all of U.S. higher education – to stand strong together and reject this latest power grab by the federal government.
Rep. Laurie Osher, D-Orono, is serving her third term in the Maine House of Representatives. She holds a PhD in soil science from the University of California, Berkley and spent over 20 years of her career in academic research and teaching, including nine years as a faculty member at the University of Maine.