Minnesota academic leaders among hundreds condemning Trump ‘overreach’

After Harvard University sued the Trump administration this week over its decision to freeze billions in federal funds to the school more than higher training leaders from around the country have signed a joint declaration condemning the administration s efforts to control universities The leadership s political interference and overreach is now endangering higher development in America they wrote The signers come from a variety of colleges and universities from across the country as well as higher schooling associations illustrating the breadth of the threat they say President Donald Trump poses to academia Joining in the comment were agents from large masses research universities like the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and smaller private colleges such as Amherst and Kenyon In Minnesota signers included the presidents of Augsburg University Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College Carleton College the College of St Benedict and St John s University Gustavus Adolphus College Hamline University St Catherine University St Olaf College Macalester College Metropolitan State University the Minneapolis College of Art Design St Paul College and the University of St Thomas Rebecca Cunningham the president of the University of Minnesota hadn t signed the announcement as of Thursday afternoon The declaration circulated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and signed by a total of people as of Thursday focuses on concerns that the Trump administration is attacking academic freedom We must oppose undue authorities intrusion into the lives of those who learn live and work on our campuses the declaration reported Numerous of the presidents who signed including Alan M Garber of Harvard also face financial risks as a product of the administration s deep cuts to research contracts and grants Garber on Monday announced his school had chosen to sue the administration after it issued a list of demands that included auditing its professors for plagiarism and appointing an outside overseer to ensure its departments were viewpoint diverse Harvard refused to comply with the demands and the administration declared it would freeze billion in federal money