American colleges and universities are facing an unprecedented moment of adjustment. President Trump’s second term has brought sweeping higher education reforms—executive orders against “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) bureaucracies, stricter enforcement against campus anti-Semitism, new scrutiny of foreign funding, and heightened pressure on institutions that grant privileges to illegal aliens.

We anticipated a spectrum of responses to these initiatives. We thought some institutions would move quickly to showcase their embrace of “neutrality” through the Chicago Principles or similar commitments to free expression. Others, we thought, would make visible efforts to distance themselves from the taint of anti-Semitism, and that many would scramble to shutter or rename DEI offices, often reassigning the same personnel to continue the same work under a different label.

Now, midway through the first fall semester under the Trump presidency, those predictions are bearing out, as administrators find themselves caught in a vise. 

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On one side are federal penalties—already imposed on Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, the University of Virginia, the University of Maine, and several dozen others for violating the anti-DEI executive order, enabling anti-Semitism, or permitting pro-Hamas protests to spiral out of control. On the other side are radicalized faculty and students who continue to press their demands in the name of DEI, Palestinian statehood, and hostility toward Israel.

The result has been equivocation. Harvard notably twisted anti-discrimination policy into a shield for pro-Hamas sympathizers—treating criticism of terrorism as equivalent to racism—revealing how deeply the university’s culture legitimizes anti-Semitism under the guise of academic morality. Many presidents claim they are following the law while quietly seeking ways to circumvent it, leaving themselves vulnerable to attacks from both government officials and campus activists. Some leaders have already been forced out—presidents at Columbia, the University of Virginia, Northwestern, and, most recently, at Texas A&M—for failing to manage these pressures. Virtually every college president now faces the same jeopardy.

These are not the only flashpoints. The federal government has also targeted states such as Texas, Kentucky, and Minnesota for granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, major universities—including the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania—have come under scrutiny for mishandling foreign funds.

For students, the most visible changes are likely still ahead. Encampments and building takeovers, once tolerated, are no longer permitted. Violent demonstrations targeting Jewish students or faculty are expected to meet swift police action, as was the case at Boston University last Tuesday. Yet activist faculty members will continue to agitate against Trump’s policies, ensuring that anti-American activism remains a fixture of campus life for years to come.

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All of this unfolds against a worsening economic backdrop. Enrollment in four-year colleges continues to decline, small institutions are closing, and even elite universities are cutting programs. Columbia has pursued record admissions—possibly to skirt DEI restrictions, but more likely to lock in tuition-paying students before future enrollment drops. The University of Chicago recently announced major programmatic cuts, an omen of retrenchment that will spread. Meanwhile, the humanities and liberal arts will continue to wither, disguised as “redefined” liberal arts with a vocational bent. New students this year have already seen fewer curricular options, and in the future, they will likely see even fewer and will probably watch overtly politicized courses gradually disappear.

The Trump administration’s higher education revamp is biting. Colleges are trying to comply, resist, and adapt simultaneously. Students may not see dramatic changes this semester, but the deeper shifts—legal, financial, and cultural—are unmistakably underway. The next few years will determine whether higher education continues its downward path or whether the shock of federal intervention forces a long-overdue reset.

Follow Jared Gould and the National Association of Scholars on X.

Image: “Columbia University” by InSapphoWeTrust on Wikimedia Commons