More than 200 university presidents nationwide signed onto a letter calling for “constructive engagement” amidst President Donald Trump’s crackdown on higher education.
President Jay Bernhardt added his signature Tuesday morning after a slight delay in correspondence from the writers of the letter, according to a spokesperson from the college.
“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” read the letter called “A Call for Constructive Engagement,” put forth by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, which promotes equity in higher education.
Bernhardt signed onto this statement just hours after he announced that two additional Emerson international students visas had been revoked—totalling the on-campus revocation to three. Over 100 student visas have been revoked at universities around New England.
The four paragraph statement accepts “legitimate government oversight,” but “oppose[s] undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”
The statement comes as 60 U.S. colleges are under federal investigation for alleged “antisemitic discrimination and harassment.” Of the 60, 23 university presidents have signed, including three additional Massachusetts schools: Boston University, Harvard University, and Tufts University.
The Trump administration recently threatened nearly $9 billion of federal funding to Harvard if the school did not acquiesce to a list of demands, including the discontinuation of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and allowing an external party to investigate reports of antisemitism on campus. Harvard publicly refused the demands and subsequently sued the Trump administration.
This is the first public stance Emerson has taken against the Trump administration since the Board of Trustees adopted a stance of institutional neutrality and the college added interim expression policies to curtail the time, place, and manner of protest demonstrations.
