Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented attack on US universities. How far will it go? Will it trigger a brain drain? And could other countries replace what’s lost? I discussed this with Lee Bollinger, former president of Columbia, one of America’s leading schools and the first target of the attack. To indicate Columbia’s level of turmoil, consider that since Bollinger’s departure in 2023, after a 21-year tenure, two more presidents have left.
If you haven’t been following the drama, here’s a summary. Citing pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus, the Trump administration stripped the university of $400mn in federal funding last month for supposedly permitting antisemitism. It is threatening dozens of others with similar measures and has already cut billions in funding for scientific research. It is now reviewing $9bn in federal funds for Harvard. And some normally tax-averse Republicans in Congress favour much higher taxes on the endowments of rich colleges.
The attack takes the form of “rightwing woke”: restrictions on supposedly racist speech and the “cancellation” (or abduction) of offenders such as the Columbia graduate and permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil, arrested and jailed for protesting over Gaza. The government has told hundreds of foreign students suspected of campus activism to self-deport. “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” secretary of state Marco Rubio told journalists in March.