So far, the Trump administration has been marked by chaotic, confusing and destructive executive orders and policy directions, affecting not only lower class and minority groups but students here at Trinity as well. From attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices to the pausing of all federal loans and executive orders targeting the Department of Education, higher education in the United States is under attack.
Attacks on education by the Republican party are not new. Republicans benefit from an uneducated population, as evidenced by the correlation between the lowest educated states and the most Republican states. Higher education is known for being occupied by more left-leaning professors and students. The Trump administration knows this and has declared war on these institutions, saying that “professors are the enemy.”
It remains to be seen what the Trump administration will actually be able to do and not do. Still, their brazen attack on the federal budget, which is usually strictly governed by Congress, raises concern that the administration will find a way to enact their policies, legally or not. This means that while Trinity is a private university and not as beholden to the government as its public counterparts, that may start to change as Trump finds new ways to punish institutions critical of his administration and its actions.
The uncertainty that surrounds federal funding is the most visible attack on higher education. Federal loans and funding were frozen by the Trump administration last week before being unfrozen a couple of days later. This freeze included federal student loans, which many college students, especially those who come from lower-income backgrounds, require to get their degree. While the order was rescinded a couple of days later, the administration’s behavior towards those who require federal funding, from students to farmers to those on Medicare, has caused a lot of anxiety about what the future of student loans looks like.
Less visible than the direct attack on federal funding is the attack on DEI practices across the country. DEI was a focal point of Trump’s campaign and is now a focal point of his administration and its policies. DEI offices at public universities around the nation have shuttered, and Trinity’s Student Inclusion and Belonging office, despite belonging to a private institution, could become a target.
The Republican Party’s focus on DEI is based around the idea of returning to “merit-based opportunities,” such as ending affirmative action and minority hiring quotas. What the party has failed to understand is that DEI is merit-based opportunity. These practices exist to discourage discriminatory hiring and admittance practices from businesses and colleges.
Although there is no legal way for the Trump administration to punish or dismantle private institutions for DEI practices, this will likely not stop them. During Trump’s first term as president, from 2017 to 2021, Trump repeatedly told his advisors and cabinet members to move outside the bounds of legality. Many said no, usually losing their careers and reputations when they refused to carry out these orders.
However, the appointments that Trump has made for his second term are filled with people who have declared their absolute loyalty to Trump rather than the country and the Constitution. The blind loyalty of Trump’s cabinet has fueled anxiety about where these appointees will draw the line, if at all. American politics, once a bureaucracy bound by a set of rules, customs and traditions, has become a chaotic, unpredictable field. While there are protections for private universities against government interference, we cannot rely on the past 250 years of legal and historical precedent.
If the next four years are anything like the past two weeks, they will be filled with uncertainty and danger for our fellow students in a myriad of ways. There is no easy way to defend against it, no one person can say anything to help. For the next four years, students in higher education will need to remain vigilant and prepared for attacks from the Trump administration. These attacks aren’t about DEI. Higher education is the bulwark against authoritarianism. If our institutions give way, our democracy gives way.
