Presidents at five colleges in the Philadelphia area were among more than 340 higher education leaders who signed a statement condemning the Trump administration for "unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education."
University of Pennsylvania's J. Larry Jameson, Temple University's John Fry, Villanova University's Peter Donohue, Haverford College's Wendy E. Raymond and Bryn Mawr College's Wendy Cadge put their names on the "call for constructive engagement," as it was titled on the American Association of Colleges and Universities website. The organization published the letter Tuesday and is still accepting signees.
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The statement comes amid an escalating battle between the administration and Harvard University. Last week, the Ivy League school rejected demands from the Trump administration that were cast as a way to curb diversity initiatives and fight antisemitism. In response, the White House threatened to freeze more than $2 billion in grants, and the wealthiest university in the country responded by suing the federal government Monday.
In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Harvard President Alan Garber said, "We are defending what I believe is one of the most important lynchpins of the American economy and way of life – our universities."
Penn has been at the center of a couple of its own battles with the Trump administration. Last month, $175 million in funding was suspended because of the university's trans policies after it allowed Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, to compete on the women's NCAA swimming and diving team during the 2021-2022 school year. Thomas graduated in 2022, and Jameson said in a statement that the school was "in full compliance with NCAA rules and Title IX policies in place at the time."
Penn and other research universities also face financial constraints because of the Trump administration's massive cuts to the National Institutes of Health. Only a few institutions in the country receive more federal research funding than Penn, and the school reportedly could lose $250 millions of in grants under the White House's directive to slash funding.
"We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding," the statement read. "… The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society."
