On April 14, the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) hosted, “How Can Universities Navigate the Current Moment?” the annual Freedman Lecture held at Old Chapel.
Speakers Robert Shibley and Henry “Hank” Reichman discussed the current contentious relationship between universities and the federal government, academic freedom and the administration’s targeting of international students and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Shibley is the Special Counsel for Campus Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and author of “Twisting Title IX.”
Reichman is professor emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay and former chair of the American Association of University Professors’ Committee on Academic Freedom (AAUP). He is also the author of “The Future of Academic Freedom” and “Censorship and Selection: Issues and Answers for Schools.”
The lecture began with moderator Jamie Rowen, associate professor of legal studies at UMass, asking the speakers how we got to this current moment where universities are facing numerous attacks from the executive.
Reichman called the current conditions “dramatically new,” but having been built up in right-leaning politics for some time as legislatures attempted to direct university curriculum and hiring in states like North Carolina and Florida beginning around 2015.
He says that colleges and universities operating as businesses “sowed the ground” for the present circumstances as they “eroded the power of faculty…and students.”
Shibley echoed his comments saying that universities have become “huge business providers to the government,” through their research. He added that federal research funding became “much more discretionary… than anticipated.”
This can be seen in the administration’s threats to rescind federal university funding for noncompliance with demands. On April 15, the federal government froze 2.2 billion in grants “hours after Harvard rejected demands from the Trump administration,” according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The administration’s targeting of international students was also top of mind for speakers and attendees. Shibley and Reichman both expressed fears that the incentive for international students to study at American universities will decrease as the possibility grows that students could be deported for minor infractions before completing their degrees.
Reports of visa revocations and terminations of legal status have come from colleges and universities across the country with the Associated Press reporting that over 900 students “have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated.”
As of April 9, 13 UMass undergraduates, graduates and alumni have had their legal statuses revoked.
Reichman said the Trump administration’s targeting of international students is “part of an agenda that is fundamentally anti-intellectual,” and “closely associated with a fear and hostility to difference.”
Shibley discussed how under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of State can decide to pursue the deportation of an individual if they are considered a threat to U.S. foreign policy. In recent circumstances, the rationale provided from the federal government for pursuing some deportations has been because of speech in support of Palestine.
He described a “a very strong chilling effect” these efforts will have on non-citizen and American students as they will likely face different consequences depending on citizenship status for sharing the same messages.
“We need to be able to talk about these things. And … having two classes of people on a college campus, one with full freedom of speech, and one that can get deported if they say the wrong thing, or they say the same thing the person next to them…I don’t think that’s a sustainable way to have an open, free society on campus,” Shibley said.
Speakers also discussed the administration’s targeting of DEI initiatives and how programs unrelated to DEI could become casualties in their fight.
“It isn’t a DEI program to have a course on African American history,” Reichman said as he expressed concerns that essential aspects of curriculum are being “confounded” with DEI initiatives leaving them equally vulnerable.
Both speakers indicated concern that attacks on DEI and its current fragility could affect the ability to reform programs. “It’s hard to fix a program that is under attack for all the wrong reasons,” Reichman said.
In light of the overwhelming executive actions against universities, the fate of academic freedom was at the forefront of their discussion.
Reichman expressed that professors should have the right to acknowledge their views as long as they are not imposing them on students. He also noted the responsibility of educators to not judge students for their own views or feel they are obligated to change their beliefs based on what they are told.
He also expressed disagreement with how universities handled the wave of campus protests following the outbreak of conflict in Gaza. He generally opposed the university administration’s impulse to further restrict speech policies following the protests rather than encouraging open dialogue.
As universities brace for further federal action, public faith in universities is weakening.
Rowan referenced Gallup data showing that since 2015, the number of people who say they have “little to no confidence in higher education,” has increased from 10 percent to 32 percent.
Shibley said that the perception of higher education as having a liberal bias has been “hugely damaging,” and tarnished some of the public “good will” that universities rely on from parents paying for their child’s tuition.
Gallup shows that Republicans are more likely to have “little to no confidence” in universities, growing from 11 percent in 2015 to 50 percent in 2024.
Reichman called the perception that all university professors are exclusively or extremely liberal “fundamentally flawed.”
Although elite universities such as Columbia and Harvard are the current targets of the administration, Reichman worries about future attacks on smaller institutions and community colleges describing it as a “Harvard catches a cold, we get pneumonia kind of thing.”
Shibley advised that universities should work together in “getting on the same page in terms of what is acceptable and not acceptable in terms of demands.” Similarly, Reichman said university administrations have to be strategic,” and determine “what is negotiable and what is not before demands are known.”
Bella Astrofsky can be reached at [email protected]
