(NewsNation) —Over 150 heads of colleges and universities issued a signed joint letter Tuesday rebuking what they call “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” by the Trump administration which is “endangering” higher education.
The letter is signed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and includes several schools such as Yale, MIT, Rutgers and Princeton.
“We speak with one voice,” the letter stated, adding that they are “open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight” but “must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”
The move marks the most unified front launched by the nation’s colleges and universities and comes one day after Harvard sued the administration after it announced it would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants for the school.
The Trump administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university and changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit its views on diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs.
The administration has argued that universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.
Along with Harvard, the Trump administration has also threatened funding blocks to Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, Columbia, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.
The faculty senate in the Big Ten Academic Alliance has already created a “mutual defense compact” to fight against the administration’s demands.
The faculty senate of Rutgers began the initiative, passing a resolution on April 6 to establish the compact among the Big Ten’s 18 universities.
Most fundamentally,” Tuesday’s letter reads, “America’s colleges and universities prepare an educated citizenry to sustain our democracy.”
“The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society. On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.”