Many have dubbed the current administration’s series of executive orders changing college and university operations as an “attack on higher education.” And, an attack it is. The freezes, discontinuations, receiverships, and surveillance have been nothing short of assaultive. But the attack on higher education threatens far more than the education our institutions provide, and even more beyond the critical research it inhibits. The sheer range of attacks on everything from academia to practical applications, from the intellectual to the material, and from the elite echelon to the everyday, signal that something more is being threatened too. Our intellect, our ability to affect change, our belief in our own efficacy — they are challenging all of these pillars of freedom and personhood. So no matter how ineffectual we feel, how we exercise our agency right now is critical to our political future.
It’s not a minority opinion (at least among Penn students) to be disturbed by the implications of what these orders have in store for us. Most people I know are questioning the horrific absurdity of our current moment despite holding varying political and social convictions. Although the Ivy League is certainly known for its partisan agreement, it’s no secret that tension and polarization over specific issues have struck our campuses too. So, in a tense political environment in which even the most basic normative stances are deemed controversial, why aren’t we doing more to combat something that so many of us can agree upon?
We might not be able to upend an executive order, but laying down and dying is also not an option. I believe that small assertions of intellectual freedom in our everyday lives matter. These individual choices won’t immediately save us. However, they will sustain the fervor needed to mobilize, allowing us to make demands under future conditions more favorable to tangible wins. Because what is at stake right now is efficacy, humanity, and the potential for any meaningful change.
Policing diversity, speech, and the ability to pursue new knowledge are not unrelated. They are all an insult to our freedom as students, faculty, university employees, recipients of the benefits found by research, and really just as members of society — because who isn’t affected by these changes? With the sheer power and impact of the modern university, curtailing its ability to operate freely has strong implications for everyone’s freedom and quality of life.
The modern university has unimaginable levels of impact, especially through its use of federal funding in advancing material progress. To name just a few historical contributions of federal funding in higher education: reducing disparities in food access through agricultural research, HIV prevention and treatment reducing mortality rates, cancer research, and more. Whether you like it or not, hurting colleges is a top-down attack. Consequences will permeate through different layers of society from health to agriculture to everyday safety.
Beyond outwardly tangible consequences, intellectual harm happens too. I don’t just mean academia will suffer and we’ll perform worse. Our power to think in a manner that challenges both ourselves and the world to be better is under threat.
Education is a refuge. Not only because knowledge provides hope and strength, but because it allows us to mobilize and prepare for what’s next. When the opportunity to critically examining our system is threatened by intellectual surveillance systems — a step that wasn't even taken in the McCarthy era — we see an attempt to rob us of our ability to think for ourselves. There are very few notions more profoundly insulting to both our humanity and intelligence, regardless of your political beliefs.
Education is transformative, and I believe the current administration fully understands that as well as any other body of politicians. Think about JD Vance, who has strategically both critiqued and championed his Ivy League alma mater to achieve specific political goals. There exists a clear understanding that education holds immense political power. Learning is clearly a recognized agent of change.
Don’t get me wrong, higher education is far from immune to criticism. I don’t believe universities, and certainly not ones with the social cachet, power, and privilege of Penn, will be the panacea that saves us from all of our societal ills. It would be ridiculous to overlook some of the deeply harmful impacts the modern university has had on everyday Americans. There are certainly plenty of criticisms about how powerful universities like Penn have not wielded their abilities to affect enough positive change for socioeconomically vulnerable parts of society.
That brings up one of the most pressing questions — if it’s this bad for us right now, what does that mean for the rest of the United States? What about land-grant schools and public institutions without massive endowments? What about schools reliant on federal investments such as HBCUs and Native American universities? As much as I’m deeply concerned about Penn, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, and Columbia, I know we have safety nets at our disposal. Meanwhile, I can’t stop thinking about the horrific logistical crisis Haskell Indian Nations University is facing in my home state right now. We will all be hurt by attacks on academia. But let’s not forget, too, the palpable devastation for those beyond the Ivory Tower.
Obviously, there is very little that can be done to combat an executive order. There is no quick-fix through legislation, policy, or mandate. A crowd of professors and angry 20-somethings won’t magically galvanize an authoritarian-minded leader into ceasing his anti-intellectual attacks. But our belief in ourselves to work towards meaningful goals is critical, because effective mobilization won’t just appear out of thin air as campaigning begins for 2028. Rushed political calculations clearly won’t get us very far.
Think about the stuff that matters when you feel the most helpless. Go to teach-ins and conferences. Form connections at rallies and sign petitions. Support our AAUP chapter. Build community. These things are never not worthwhile. Don’t let disillusionment make you docile. You still have the ability to critically think and imagine a different future, so fight for it in whatever ways you can, big or small.
ARSHIYA PANT is a College sophomore studying history and legal studies from Kansas City, Kansas. Her email is arshiyap@sas.upenn.edu.
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