Solidarity or capitulation
If universities are going to survive this era it won't be by going it alone
At the recent conference of the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago, I was invited to participate in an emergency townhall meeting entitled “The State and Future of American Democracy.” It was a pretty august panel and I was honored to be a part of it. And a good deal of it was very specific, discussing current threats to higher education and ways that universities can resist this ongoing attack on research, scholarship, and academic free speech. In particular, panelists talked about the need for schools of various stripes to align with each other, rather than keep their heads down and hope this threat passes over.
This conversation proved pretty useful considering what’s happening this week. The Trump administration is now suspending federal funds previously committed to Northwestern ($790 million) and Cornell ($1 billion). It has already suspended funds for Columbia, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard, and has similarly threatened many other schools. These and other efforts are creating a chilling effect in higher education, incentivizing some schools to end decades-long commitments to inclusiveness and free expression in the hopes of avoiding the administration’s wrath. Faculty — and not just those here on work visas — are losing research opportunities and are increasingly fearful that their research, their teaching, and their own words are putting them in peril.
Columbia’s capitulation to the administration — in exchange for nothing concrete other than a willingness to discuss restoring federal funding — has set a terrible precedent. Each capitulation makes the next one easier, and there’s no reason to believe the administration will be sated by a surrender. Indeed, the administration is now extorting Columbia for even more money. Weird that handing the bully their milk money didn’t work.
I’m sometimes skeptical of the application of game theory to politics, but you rarely see the Prisoner’s Dilemma so neatly acted out. As in the game, schools and law firms could benefit by cooperating, but they don’t fully trust their peers to have their backs, and they think they could survive by capitulating or just keeping their head down. This lack of coordination leaves everyone worse off except the White House. As I wrote earlier, this is like the ferryboat scene in “The Dark Knight,” except both ferries blow each other up before the Joker even finishes his instructions.
This is a dangerous time for higher education institutions, to be sure, but far more dangerous for them to act alone than to act in concert. The administration can pick off schools one by one, but if schools are defending each other publicly, offering support financially and otherwise, providing a narrative about academic life other than what is being generated by the White House, cooperating on lawsuits, etc., that stands a greater chance of success than keeping their heads down and hoping for the best.
I encourage people to read this strong recent New York Times editorial, which offered ways law firms and universities can push back against this administration’s attacks and extortions. As that piece concludes,
The playbook calls for solidarity, especially for institutions that Mr. Trump has not (yet) targeted. The initial response to his executive orders from many other law firms has been the opposite of solidarity. They reportedly tried to steal clients and hire lawyers from the threatened firms. Most big firms also refused to sign a legal brief in defense of their industry. Their meekness is ultimately self-defeating. The campaign to subdue law firms will either be defeated or it will expand….
The business world has much at stake. The United States is home to an outsize share of financial and corporate activity partly because investors have confidence that the rule of law prevails here. If political power instead supersedes signed contracts and the rule of law, American business will suffer.
Standing up to the abuse of power is inherently difficult. It can also be inspiring. People who do so often look back proudly on their actions and are justly celebrated for it after a crisis has passed. But crises usually do not end on their own. Resolving them requires courage and action.