特朗普的命令震惊了大学校园，因为他兑现了“攻击大学”的承诺
【中美创新时报2025 年 1 月 30 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）东北大学从其网站的一部分中删除了“多样性和包容性”字样。哈佛大学建议研究人员遵守即将发布的关于“DEIA 相关活动”的“停止工作”命令。主要研究型大学的科学家对美国国立卫生研究院暂时冻结拨款审查感到担忧。《波士顿环球报》记者希拉里·伯恩斯和迪蒂·科利对此作了下述报道。
大学管理人员几乎无法跟上最新情况；周二，他们急忙向接受联邦财政援助的学生保证，尽管有冻结所有联邦拨款的命令，但他们可以继续注册春季学期的课程——白宫于周三下午立即撤销了这项指令。几个小时后，白宫宣布，去年参加亲巴勒斯坦集会的外国学生可能会被吊销签证。
特朗普第二届政府上任之初颁布的一系列令人震惊的政策让许多高等教育界陷入了混乱和恐惧之中。
“我们确实觉得自己受到了攻击，”华盛顿特区美国教育委员会主席泰德·米切尔说，该委员会代表约 1,600 所学院和大学。他谴责政府“对项目进行全面谴责，却不了解它们对国家、社区和个人的价值。”
然而，特朗普总统和他的盟友对此有不同的看法，他们似乎决心颠覆他们认为是左翼思想和文化激进主义源泉的领域。
“大学里发生的事情影响着整个社会，不仅仅是让人们为就业做好准备，而且让他们的思想为共和国的利益做好准备，”右倾的全国学者协会主席彼得·伍德说。
“他们上大学是为了成为有责任感的公民，但他们却被灌输了这样一种思想，即大学毕业时，他们鄙视美国的过去及其在当今世界的角色，”伍德说。
特朗普政府没有回应置评请求。
现在，高校正准备迎接一段财务困境和快速文化变革的时期。
一个主要的不确定性来源：特朗普就职典礼后一天签署的行政命令，要求终止联邦拨款接受者的多元化、公平和包容政策。它还通知高校，9 所捐赠超过 10 亿美元的学校——15 所新英格兰院校属于这一类别——将接受调查，以“阻止 DEI 计划或原则”。一些学者想知道这项命令是否会影响学术教学，就像许多红州的类似法律一样。
“有人会因为我们促进性别平等或种族平等而举报我们吗？”东北大学社会学教授苏珊娜·达努塔·沃尔特斯 (Suzanna Danuta Walters) 表示，她还负责指导女性、性别和性研究项目。“这很像麦卡锡主义时期。”
在特朗普政府执政的第一周，东北大学彻底改造了其网站的 DEI 页面，删除了横幅标题：“多元化、公平和包容办公室。东北大学相信为所有人提供一个欢迎和包容的环境。”
现在，网站上写着“东北大学的归属感”，并表示学校“重新构想的方法以拥抱全球大学系统中个人的经历为中心，以最大限度地发挥机构层面的影响。” 甚至网站的网址也从diversity.northeastern.edu 更改为belonging.northeastern.edu。
“东北大学对拥抱我们整个全球社区的承诺始终坚定不移，”发言人雷纳塔·纽尔 (Renata Nyul) 表示。“虽然内部结构和方法可能需要调整，但大学的核心价值观不会改变。”
一些大学项目已经受到特朗普关于 DEI 的全面行政命令的影响。
新泽西州罗格斯大学教授 Marybeth Gasman 表示，她负责的少数族裔服务机构中心在收到劳工部资助的资助合作伙伴的“停工”命令后，不得不取消原定于周四举行的关于增加传统黑人学院和大学学徒人数的虚拟会议。
Gasman 表示，该中心“将在私人捐助者的支持下继续开展其他所有工作”。
然而，本周高等教育领导人最迫切的担忧是联邦政府拨款和研究资金的突然暂停，这引发了人们对项目和研究的未来，甚至对实验室科学家的薪酬的担忧。尽管白宫撤销了冻结所有拨款的命令，但 NIH 拨款申请审查的暂停仍然有效。
35 岁的 Kelsey Tyssowski 是哈佛大学的博士后，她每天都在研究两种鹿鼠，检查它们的神经系统，看看它们是如何进化不同的。这项研究可以帮助人们了解人类进化，并补充对退行性疾病的研究。
但为她提供薪水和每年 25,000 美元津贴的 NIH 拨款似乎悬而未决。她担心有抱负的科学家可能会因为周二的资金冻结造成的不确定性而不愿意从事学术事业。
“我不知道年轻科学家将如何取得突破，”Tyssowski 说。 “新实验室的启动已经非常困难，这只会损害我们的学术生态系统。”
未来可能还会有更多困难。
大学领导担心国会正在酝酿的一项提案，该提案将对数十家最大的大学捐赠基金征收 10 倍的税，将 1.4% 的税率提高到 14%。
副校长 JD Vance 此前曾提议将捐赠税提高到 35%，认为大学给学生和纳税人带来了沉重的债务负担。
缅因州科尔比学院校长 David Greene 表示，他一直在与该州代表团会面，讨论增加捐赠税如何削弱一些国家顶尖大学向低收入和中等收入学生提供极其慷慨的经济援助的能力。
“我们应该认识到，这将对从这些资金中受益的个人（包括学生）造成下游伤害，”他说。
格林还担心上周签署的一项行政命令的影响，该命令要求加强对国际学生签证的审查，以及一项单独的命令，该命令撤销了保护学校免受移民执法行动影响的政策。
“我们都有全球性的教师和学生团体——关闭美国的学院和大学，让全球人口无法入学将是毁灭性的，因为一旦人们习惯了选择去欧洲或亚洲而不是美国，就很难再把他们拉回来，”格林说。
“我们不能让这种情况发生，”格林说。
然而，大多数大学领导对新指令保持沉默或发表温和的声明，这让希望更有力地捍卫学术独立性的教授们感到担忧。
“如果你能控制人们的想法，那么你就能控制人们的行为，”新泽西州普林斯顿大学非洲裔美国人研究和公共事务教授哈利勒·纪伯伦·穆罕默德说。“如果你能摧毁高等教育的独立性，你就能更好地控制民众抵制他们原本会反对的政策的能力。”
哈佛大学发言人拒绝置评。
《波士顿环球报》联系的其他六所学校拒绝置评，没有回应，重申对多元化的承诺，或表示他们正在等待联邦机构提供有关如何应用这些指令的更多细节。新罕布什尔大学和马萨诸塞大学的官员告诉《波士顿环球报》，自行政命令发布以来，DEI 计划或 DEI 人员没有发生任何变化。
“这不会改变我们对多元化和包容性的承诺，”马萨诸塞大学系统总裁马蒂·米汉说。“这意味着许多公司和非营利组织正在关注我们用什么语言来表明这一使命。”
穆罕默德目前在普林斯顿大学休学，目前仍是哈佛大学的访问学者。他指出，上周哈佛大学采纳了特朗普所接受的反犹太主义定义，并批评其压制亲巴勒斯坦言论，这表明该大学“似乎正在容忍法西斯接管高等教育”。
作为两起诉讼和解的一部分，哈佛大学采纳了这一定义，该定义已被 40 多个国家接受，但只有少数高等教育机构接受，这两起诉讼指控哈佛大学在 10 月 7 日哈马斯领导的对以色列的袭击后让反犹太主义在校园内滋生。
一些人对这一决定表示欢迎，他们表示哈佛大学是时候对反犹太主义采取更强硬的立场了。但这促使政治学家杰伊·乌尔费尔德辞去了哈佛肯尼迪学院阿什中心非暴力行动实验室项目主任的职务。
“随着共和党本月重新控制联邦政府，我曾希望看到大学重新发现其道德声音并开始反击美国公开偏执的威权主义复苏的迹象，”乌尔费尔德在《波士顿环球报》获得的 1 月 22 日辞职信中写道。“……相反，我看到的恰恰相反。”
《波士顿环球报》工作人员 Alexa Gagosz、Christopher Gavin、Amanda Gokee、Steph Machado 和 Steven Porter 对本报告做出了贡献。
题图：2024 年总统大选后的第二天，学生们在东北大学的校园里学习。Erin Clark/环球报工作人员
附原英文报道：
Trump’s orders stun college campuses as he follows through on promise to ‘attack the universities’
By Hilary Burns and Diti Kohli Globe Staff,Updated January 30, 2025
Students studied on Northeastern University’s campus the day after the 2024 presidential election.Erin Clark/Globe Staff
Northeastern University scrubbed the words “diversity and inclusion” from a section of its website. Harvard University advised researchers to comply with forthcoming “stop work” orders on “DEIA-related activities.”
Scientists at major research universities fretted over a temporary freeze on grant reviews by the National Institutes of Health.
University administrators could barely keep up with the latest; on Tuesday they rushed to reassure students receiving federal financial aid that they could continue registering for the spring semester classes despite an order freezing all federal grants — a directive the White House summarily revoked Wednesday afternoon. A few hours later, the White House announced foreign students who’d participated in pro-Palestinian rallies last year could have their visas revoked.
The stunning succession of policies issued in the opening days of the second Trump administration has sent many higher education communities into a state of confusion and raw fear.
“We certainly feel like we’re under attack,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., which represents about 1,600 colleges and universities. He decried the administration’s “sweeping condemnation of programs without understanding their value to the country, to communities, and to individuals.”
President Trump and his allies see it differently, however, and they appear determined to upend a sector they see as a wellspring of leftist thought and cultural radicalism.
“What goes on in college affects all of society, not simply in preparing people for the workforce, but in preparing their minds to be attuned for the good of the republic,” said Peter Wood, president of the right-leaning National Association of Scholars.
“They go to college to become responsible citizens, and instead they have been indoctrinated in large numbers to graduate from college with disdain for America’s past and its role in the world today,” Wood said.
The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Colleges and universities are now bracing for a period of financial pain and rapid cultural change.
A major source of uncertainty: the executive order signed a day after Trump’s inauguration that called for an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies for recipients of federal grants. It also put colleges on notice that nine schools with endowments over $1 billion — 15 New England institutions fall into this category — would be subject to investigations to “deter DEI programs or principles.” Some academics wondered whether this order could impact academic instruction, as similar laws have in many red states.
“Will someone turn us in for promoting gender equity or racial equity?” said Suzanna Danuta Walters, professor of sociology at Northeastern University, where she also directs a women’s, gender, and sexuality studies program. “It is very much a McCarthy period.”
During the first week of the Trump administration, Northeastern University overhauled its website’s DEI page, removing the banner headline: “The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Northeastern believes in a welcoming and inclusive environment for all.”
Now, the website says “Belonging at Northeastern,” and states the school’s “reimagined approach centers on embracing the experiences of individuals across the global university system to maximize impact at the institutional level.” Even the website’s URL changed from diversity.northeastern.edu to belonging.northeastern.edu.
“Northeastern’s commitment to embracing our entire global community remains steadfast,” spokesperson Renata Nyul said. ”While internal structures and approaches may need to be adjusted, the university’s core values don’t change.”
Already, some university programming has been impacted by Trump’s sweeping executive order on DEI.
Marybeth Gasman, professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said the Center for Minority Serving Institutions she runs had to cancel a virtual conference scheduled for Thursday about increasing the number of apprenticeships at Historically Black Colleges and Universities after receiving a “stop work” order from a grant partner funded by the Department of Labor.
Gasman said the center “will continue to do all of our other work” with support from private donors.
The most pressing concerns for higher education leaders this week, however, were the abrupt pauses to federal grants and research funding, which prompted immense consternation about the future of projects and studies, and even how scientists working in labs would be paid. Although the White House rescinded its order freezing all grant funding, the temporary pause on NIH grant application reviews remains in place.
Kelsey Tyssowski, 35, spends her days as a postdoctorate student at Harvard studying two species of deer mice, examining their nervous systems to see how they have evolved differently. The research could help people understand human evolution and supplement research on degenerative diseases.
But the NIH grant that funds her salary and provides her with a $25,000 annual stipend seems to be up in the air. She worries about aspiring scientists who may become disinclined to pursue careers in academia because of the uncertainty caused by Tuesday’s funding freeze.
“I don’t know how young scientists are going to break through,” Tyssowski said. “It’s already extremely hard for new labs to start, and this only stands to hurt our academic ecosystem.”
There is likely much more to come.
College leaders are worried about a proposal percolating in Congress that would increase a tax on dozens of the largest university endowments by a factor of 10, raising a 1.4 percent tax to 14 percent.
Vice President JD Vance has previously proposed increasing the endowment tax to 35 percent, arguing colleges had burdened students and taxpayers with overwhelming debt.
David Greene, president of Colby College in Maine, said he has been meeting with the state’s delegation to talk about how increases to the endowment tax could undercut some of the nation’s top colleges’ ability to provide extremely generous financial aid to low- and middle-income students.
“We should just recognize that’s going to [cause] downstream harm to the individuals, including students, who would benefit from those dollars,” he said.
Greene also worries about the impact of an executive order signed last week that calls for increased vetting of international student visas, and a separate order that rescinded policies protecting schools from immigration enforcement actions.
“We all have global faculties, student bodies — shutting down America’s colleges and universities to a global population would be devastating, because it’s hard to pull people back once they’ve gotten used to choosing to go to places in Europe or Asia instead of the US,” Greene said.
“We can’t afford to have that happen,” Greene said.
Most college leaders, however, were silent or released meek statements about the new directives, which worried professors hoping for a more spirited defense of academic independence.
“If you can control how people think, then you can control how people behave,” said Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of African American studies and public affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey. “And if you can destroy the independence of higher education, you can have greater control over a population’s ability to resist policies that it would otherwise object to.”
A spokesperson for Harvard declined to comment.
A half dozen other schools contacted by the Globe declined to comment, did not respond, reiterated commitments to diversity, or said they were awaiting more details from federal agencies about how the directives should be applied. Officials with the University of New Hampshire and the University of Massachusetts told the Globe there have been no changes to DEI programs or DEI personnel since the executive order.
”It won’t change our commitment to diversity and our commitment to inclusiveness,” said Marty Meehan, president of the UMass system. “It means a lot of companies and nonprofits are looking at what language we use to identify that mission.”
Muhammad, who remains a visiting scholar at Harvard after leaving for Princeton, where he is currently on sabbatical, pointed to Harvard’s adoption last week of a definition of antisemitism embraced by Trump and criticized for suppressing pro-Palestinian speech as a signal that the university “seems to be accommodating what amounts to a fascist takeover of higher education.”
The university adopted the definition, which has been embraced by more than 40 nations but only a handful of higher education institutions, as part of two lawsuit settlements alleging the university let antisemitism fester on campus after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
That decision was welcomed by some who said it was time Harvard took a much stronger stance against antisemitism. But it prompted Jay Ulfelder, a political scientist, to resign from his position as program director of the Nonviolent Action Lab at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center.
“As the GOP retook control of the federal government this month, I had hoped to see signs that the university would rediscover its moral voice and start pushing back against the resurgence of openly bigoted authoritarianism in the US,” Ulfelder wrote in a Jan. 22 resignation letter obtained by the Globe. “… Instead, I am seeing the opposite.”
Globe staffers Alexa Gagosz, Christopher Gavin, Amanda Gokee, Steph Machado, and Steven Porter contributed to this report.
