As the president, governors and legislators elevate the stress and anxiety in higher education in the United States by seeking to change how colleges and universities operate and what they teach, the contrast between how an Ivy League school and an Iowa university responded shows the courage gap among college leaders.
Columbia University, the 270-year-old private, non-profit institution in New York City, garnered intense governmental attention and public criticism last week.
The Trump administration cancelled $400 million in federal grants for medical and scientific research because of what the president thought was the school’s inadequate response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus growing out of Israel’s war in Gaza. The president demanded the school make a series of substantive changes as preconditions for the feds’ restoration of the grants — including banning protesters from wearing masks, thereby making it easier to identify them.
Robert Reich, a University of California professor of public policy and former member of the Clinton cabinet, wrote last week about the Trump administration’s actions: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is just about Trump wanting to protect Jewish students from expressions of antisemitism. It’s about the Trump regime wanting to impose all sorts of values on American higher education. It’s all about intimidation.”
While the Ivy League school withered in the spotlight and gave in to the pressure, Drake University, the largest private school in Iowa, stood firm against the tide of federal and state mandates to end diversity, equity and inclusivity initiatives in a way few institutions have in recent weeks.