Administrators at Princeton, Yale and MIT, among others, are speaking out “against the unprecedented government intrusion and political interference currently endangering American higher education.” Today, the American Association of Colleges and Universities AAC&U published a letter signed by 170 institutions.

Demands

For months, the Trump administration has been trying to enforce its demands on American educational institutions, such as abolishing diversity measures and barring foreign students who are “hostile to American values.” If an institution does not accept these demands, its financial support will be suspended.

Harvard's rector also signed the letter. He already announced last week that he would not yield to President Donald Trump's long list of demands. In response, the government froze $2.2 billion in government grants. This weekend, another billion was added. Harvard is filing a lawsuit, the rector announced Monday.

Open research

Columbia University did not sign the letter. Just last month, the government threatened to cut some $400 million in funding from the prestigious university. To avoid this, Columbia quickly agreed to the government's demands.

But the 170 U.S. institutions that signed the letter refuse to budge. They want to decide for themselves “who they admit and what they teach.” They also advocate open research and a free exchange of ideas.

The letter is unlikely to make much of an impression. The White House responded mockingly to Harvard's lawsuit.