The 12 members of the prestigious board of directors of the Fulbright program would have resigned to protest against what they describe as an unprecedented political interference by the Trump administrationwho blocked scholarships for nearly 200 American academics.
The board of directors, according to a memo obtained by the New York TimesAccused the State Department of having acted illegally by canceling prices already approved for teachers and researchers due to travel abroad this summer, following a one -year selection process that ended during the winter.
The administration also examines the requests of approximately 1,200 foreign researchers already approved to study in the United States, potentially disturbing the exchanges that were to start with letters of acceptance in April.
“We think that these actions not only contradict status, but are contrary to the Fulbright mission and values, including freedom of expression and academic freedom, which Congress specified in law,” wrote the members of the Council Their resignation letter.
Mass resignation represents a significant escalation of tensions between the Trump administration and university establishments. The White House has systematically targeted higher education, with 45 universities Currently under investigation As part of Trump’s anti-DEI repression, including dozens of public schools and two Ivy League institutions.
The administration has also frozen federal funding for major universities, with more than $ 1 billion in frozen funding for Cornell University, nearly $ 800 million for the Northwestern University and $ 8.7 billion in federal subsidies and contracts under examination for Harvard University.
Now the Secretary of State Marco Rubio is would have considered The question of whether Harvard should be investigated to violate federal sanctions by collaborating on a panel with Chinese officials put black on the US government.
According to sources which have taken the floor anonymously to the New York Times, the department of public diplomacy of the department began to send letters of rejection to researchers based mainly on their research subjects. The fields of study that would have been targeted include climate change, migration, gender studies, race and ethnicity and various scientific disciplines.
The public diplomacy office is led by Darren Beattie, a previously returned policy of the first Trump administration After speaking at a conference attended by white nationalists.
The board of directors has also raised concerns about the proposed budget cuts that would reduce the financing of educational and cultural affairs from $ 691 million to $ 50 million.
“The injection of policy and ideological mandates in the Fulbright program violates the letter and the spirit of the law that Congress has so wisely established almost eight decades,” concluded the board of directors in their letter.