Universities speak out against government 'overreach,' but South is more muted

More than 320 university leaders united this week against the Trump administration, signing onto a statement decrying “unprecedented government overreach and political interference.”

Few institutions from Georgia and the South joined the resistance.

Universities in Republican-led states in the South have largely stayed silent amid the national call for academic freedom after the Trump administration froze federal funding to Harvard University.

The only university leader from Georgia who signed the letter was Agnes Scott College President Leocadia Zak.

“The exchange of ideas among individuals of differing opinions is central to the liberal arts education Agnes Scott College provides,” the private women’s school said in a statement. “We join our colleagues … in calling for an opportunity to engage in a constructive conversation about these important issues for higher education.”

One Georgia university whose name did not appear on the letter was Emory. That didn’t sit well with some on campus who held a vigil Wednesday for academic freedom.

Faculty have held those 15-minute protests regularly throughout the academic year, but Emory professor Noëlle McAfee said some were motivated to attend after seeing Emory missing from the list of signatories to the statement from the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

McAfee, president of the faculty senate, said Emory President Gregory Fenves told her he doesn’t sign petitions.

“As if somebody was coming up with a petition to save the whales, as if he’s just representing himself when he represents a major university,” said McAfee, adding that the letter was not a petition. “This is a joint statement that we will not succumb to intimidation.”

An Emory spokeswoman did not return a request from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for comment.

Lynn Pasquerella, president of the AAC&U, said the collective voice of hundreds of university leaders is an effort to “push back against this unprecedented and unwarranted intrusion into every aspect of college operations.”

But she understands that universities in Georgia and other states face political pressures that constrain their ability to speak out.

“We know presidents are experiencing more distress at higher levels than ever before,” Pasquerella said. “They know their jobs are on the line if they say or do the wrong things.”

The letter follows the Trump administration’s freeze on $2.2 billion in grants after Harvard refused demands for changes to admissions policies and an audit of campus views on diversity. The administration has also restricted federal funding to several other schools including the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. Harvard sued Monday to halt the funding freeze.

Georgia House Higher Education Chair Chuck Martin said he hasn’t heard many complaints about academic freedom besides isolated letters from professors or students.

“I don’t have concerns on a system level that that’s a problem,” said Martin, a Republican from Alpharetta. “I’m not aware of anybody in our university system who is being told they can’t conduct a class the way they wish to achieve the outcome of their syllabus.”

This legislative session, lawmakers considered a bill that would have withheld public funding from any public school, college or university that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion programs, but it didn’t pass.

Still, universities in more liberal states are less constrained than those in more conservative regions such as the South, said Will Creeley, legal director for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, an organization that advocates for free speech on college campuses.

“I imagine that some of that hesitancy is a result of the potential not only for federal retaliation, but also state retaliation,” Creeley said. “We’ve seen over the past decade contentious battles between state legislatures and the institutions of higher education.”

The University System of Georgia, for instance, receives funding from the state Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans. A spokeswoman for the university system did not return a request for comment.

But Creely said the significant amount of universities that signed the letter shows they realize there’s strength in numbers.

Outside of Georgia, other Southern institutions that signed on include Davidson College, Duke University, Rollins College, the University of the South and the University of Virginia.

“I am increasingly concerned about federal interventions that endanger these principles and, by extension, the future of American higher education,” said Grant Cornwell, president of Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida. “While we must remain open to thoughtful reform and recognize the role of legitimate oversight, we must also be unequivocal in our resistance to efforts that seek to restrict or undermine the freedoms fundamental to our mission.”

Besides calling for academic freedom from “retribution, censorship, or deportation,” the AAC&U letter also noted a willingness to make “constructive reform.”

The university leaders said in the letter they’re willing to discuss changes seeking effective financial practices, but they rejected “coercive use of public research funding.”

McAfee said Emory would be wise to join them. She said staying quiet is a losing strategy.

“We have avoided the wrath of the Trump administration so far, but it’s just a matter of time,” she said. “In the long run, if the universities don’t stand up to Trump, he will take them all down.”

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