Fulbright Program Board Resigns After Accusing Trump Of Interfering | EUROtoday

The whole board of the Fulbright program, which fosters worldwide schooling by an alternate program, give up on Wednesday after accusing the Trump administration of unlawful interference, in response to a memo obtained by The New York Times.

The program, which is run by the U.S. State Department, awards scholarships to American researchers, professors and educators to go overseas.

In the memo, the 12 board members said that the Trump administration had illegally canceled scholarships for almost 200 professors and researchers who have been set to journey to worldwide establishments this summer time after finishing a prolonged choice course of.

These students have been speculated to obtain acceptance letters in April, however the board found that they’d acquired letters of rejection. The rejections have been largely as a consequence of their space of analysis, together with biology, structure and agriculture, the board mentioned.

“[T]he current administration has usurped the authority of the Board and denied Fulbright awards to a substantial number of individuals who were selected for the 2025-2026 academic year,” board members wrote within the memo.

They additionally wrote that they have been involved the Trump administration would wrongfully reject worldwide students who’re slated to return to the U.S. by this system.

“We believe these actions not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the Fulbright mission and the values, including free speech and academic freedom, that Congress specified in the statute,” the memo mentioned.

The mass resignation of the Fulbright board is the newest growth within the Trump administration’s ongoing assaults on increased schooling. As a part of the broader effort to stifle dissent from public establishments, the federal authorities has threatened to withdraw funding from schools and universities until they permit the federal authorities to control what’s taught and who’s admitted.

As a part of the assaults on schools, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has unexpectedly canceled worldwide scholar visas and detained overseas school college students with pro-Palestinian views. Rubio additionally introduced final month that the federal government was pausing new interviews for overseas scholar visas in order that it may “vet” social media accounts of candidates.

One of the administration’s most important targets is Harvard University. The feud with the college started when the celebrated establishment declined to acquiesce to Trump’s prolonged listing of calls for, which included a whole upheaval of the Ivy League college’s hiring and admissions practices.

Last week, Trump signed an government order banning Harvard’s worldwide college students from getting into the U.S., jeopardizing the funds that the varsity receives from worldwide college students who often pay full tuition and contribute thousands and thousands of {dollars} to the native economic system.

One day later, a federal choose halted Trump’s try to dam worldwide college students from going to Harvard.