It feels eerie as pretty much everyone seemingly avoided talking about the election. But Trump back in the White House will likely have a profound effect on US Colleges and Universities. Trump is no fan of universities and his vice-president once proclaimed "the professors are the enemy".
While most US universities act outside of federal control, almost all of them take Federal funds in scholarships and grants and Trump could use that as a lever to push his policies.
Now Trump is always unpredictable and the courts could step in but here is what could happen.
International Students
I still remember Trump's ban on Iranians in the US and what it meant to our students and faculty at Georgia Tech. While that thankfully got blocked by the courts, who knows what will happen in this next administration.
International students at all levels in higher ed play a major role in increasing both the intellectual and financial strengths of universities. International Students, especially from some countries like China, may have a harder time coming to or staying in the US under a Trump administration or may have less desire to do so.
Student Loan Forgiveness
Title IX
1) Some pundits (and one of my friends) think that Trump really won't be that bad, that Project 2025 has nothing to do with him, that its all democratic hysteria and Trump Derangement syndrome. Rather than say if they are right or wrong, I'll just say that we'll find out.
ReplyDelete2) Will the humanties and history actually see real changes in what they can teach? This may be more of a state issue but it will now have moral support from the White House.
3) Are we safe from changes in content since we are STEM? I would think so, but we will see.
4) Will having Trump affects what gets funded within STEM? More money for Quantum since the Chinese are doing it? I doubt Trump will get into the weeds on those details.
In Trump's first term, he attempted to tax tuition waivers for graduate students. This would've made graduate school completely unaffordable to me and many others. Under a new tax plan, he may try this again.
ReplyDeleteSome of the things you listed many would like and show why he won.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to look into what has happened at other countries that were taken over by groups such as this.
ReplyDeleteI didn't use AI at all for this one, or on posts in general other than for proofreading. Maybe AI is changing how I write?
ReplyDeleteNo more NRP and National Endowment for the Arts??
ReplyDeleteFor a non-US based professor, could you explain what accreditation is? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSince, with few exceptions, the federal government doesn't run the universities, they empower a series of regional organizations to accredit each school. Accreditation is necessary to receive federal funds and get an .edu domain, among other things. There are many issues with accreditation, but I'll leave that for a future blog post.
DeleteAt one point in the first Trump term, Stephen Miller (a closer adviser to Trump) wanted to ban Chinese students completely.
ReplyDelete