College campuses are in chaos as professors scramble to dodge the Trump administration's ideological crusade, rewriting syllabuses, self-censoring lectures, and even fleeing the country, according to a new report.
From elite universities to smaller institutions, faculty members are gutting grant applications of language that might trigger White House fury, stripping courses of controversial topics, and watching their words in classrooms, The New York Times reported Monday. Some abandoned research projects altogether and one even packed her bags and moved to Australia.
While the White House claims it's stamping out bigotry and restoring public confidence in institutions conservatives say lean too far left, critics argue the tactics mirror authoritarian suppression of free speech and intellectual inquiry.
At UC Berkeley, law professor Christopher Kutz carefully tailors assignments to shield students on visas from potential retaliation.
“I’m not going to change what I say, but I will try to make sure the assignments don’t invite students into making statements that could get them in trouble,” Kutz told the Times.
He added: “It’s a subjective sensation that I’ve never had before: I have to think very hard about whether it’s worth talking about something that’s obviously clearly relevant to the course."
Faculty worry about being doxed, recorded by students, or reported by administrators eager to appease federal officials.
At the University of Nevada, Reno, anthropologist Marin Pilloud said she feels "like an attack can kind of come from anywhere." She's stopped applying for grants entirely and said she felt it necessary to present dubious ideas peddled by the Trump administration, including the CDC's widely disputed new vaccine guidance.
Other faculty members born outside the U.S. fear deportation threats over their speech, and some researchers are stripping diversity language out of their grant applications.
One Emory professor, Kylie Smith, decided she'd had enough. She moved to Australia, calling the shift toward censorship intolerable.
“I really, really resented the idea that you should change the words so that you could get the funding,” she said, adding, “To me, that is compliance with fascism, and I’m not going to do it.”
She concluded: “Censorship has never been an issue there.”