President Donald Trump’s administration has implemented recent changes to U.S. education that weaponize government power to undermine American values of freedom and equality. 

The federal government should uphold freedom of speech and expression within academic institutions rather than suppress these rights through politically motivated funding maneuvers and layoffs. 

The Trump administration recently unveiled a preferential funding plan, the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, according to Time Magazine. The compact requires universities that sign to abolish “institutional units” that oppose conservative ideas and to only provide single-sex bathrooms, among other rules, to receive priority for federal grants and meetings with White House officials.

The Trump administration is overstepping its authority by dictating what colleges are allowed to teach in higher education institutions, according to No Kings protest participant and volunteer for former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, junior Cole Bitterlich.

“The worst part is, they’re trying to leverage this money aspect to draw concessions and to push their own agenda,” Bitterlich said. “I personally disagree with what they’re doing. The government is having more of a direct say on what college students are learning, when colleges are meant to be more for independent thought and study.”

The Trump administration has cut $2.1 billion in funding to public educational institutions and $1.2 billion in funding to private institutions over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and perceived liberal bias, according to the Center for American Progress. These funding cuts penalize universities for exercising their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression.

Moreover, the administration’s attempts at dismantling education programs contradict its insistence on ending so-called discriminatory university admission processes. To accelerate its plan to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, the Trump administration laid off 466 employees in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) on Oct. 10, according to NPR. Such large-scale layoffs will erode the rights of special needs students across the nation, as OSERS staff members oversee state services to ensure compliance with the civil rights law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

“I worry about our students, especially [those] with special needs in other states, and how they’re going to be provided adequate education and the support for educators who work with them,” Extensive Supports Need program department chair and special education teacher Melody Resendez said. “That’s the big piece, not only in how students with disabilities are treated, but minorities as well — people of different faiths, backgrounds that are not necessarily embraced by the majority of the state.”

Although the administration’s actions may be seen as government overreach, some contend that federal oversight of higher education falls within the president’s constitutional authority, according to The Federalist Society. Analysts from the American Enterprise Institute posit that the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education could bolster American civic strength and bridge ideological divides between the political left and political right.

However, according to the American Council on Education, federal attempts to tie funding to political criteria threaten the longstanding principle that universities must remain independent to preserve academic freedom. Conditioning grants on ideological conformity risks adversely impacting research, teaching and campus governance. Moreover, the government has also eliminated more than $1.5 billion in federal research grants for cybersecurity, climate justice, disabilities and other critical fields, according to National Education Association

These grant cuts will impact the U.S.’s standing as a nation, not only by weakening its global competitiveness in innovation and technology but also by impairing universities’ ability to train the next generation of researchers, particularly underrepresented or low-income students.

Ultimately, such actions reflect a government more focused on political control than academic freedom. 

When government agendas dictate what can be taught or researched, the freedom to think, question and learn is all at stake.