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Capitulation or Complicity? Universities and the Trump Administration
Complicity gets us far closer to a useful explanation of recent actions by campus leaders than capitulation.
Apr 01, 2025
On March 7th the Trump administration announced the immediate cancellation of $400 million in government grants and contracts to Columbia University. Less than a week later, his administration followed up with a letter to Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, outlining the steps the university would have to take before negotiations to restore funding could even begin.
Although largely without precedent, Trump’s demands are entirely in line with an evolving authoritarianism that seeks to destroy possible sites of political opposition. The demands included suspending or expelling some of those who participated in pro-Palestinian protests; centralizing disciplinary power within the hands of the university president; banning mask wearing on campus; increasing the numbers and powers of campus police; and putting the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies department under “academic receivership” (a rare move that places a department under external/administrative control, typically because it has become dysfunctional, but in this case because it was not sufficiently pro-Israel).
On March 21st, Columbia’s interim president agreed to the demands. Columbia would not put up a fight. Armstrong’s actions were widely condemned by advocates of higher education, academic freedom, and free speech—most of whom seemed genuinely surprised, even shocked, by Columbia’s decision to simply accept Trump’s terms. On March 28th Armstrong lost her job.
Trump is coming for us because so much of the best that university faculty, staff, and students represent—science, education, reason, knowledge, and informed political engagement—poses a real threat to his project.
It is tempting, as most commentators have, to understand the quick, total, and passive submission of Columbia and other university administrations to Trump’s assault through the lens of “capitulation,” “caving,” or “appeasement.” I get the impulse. Surely liberal institutions of higher learning, with time-honored commitments to free speech and academic freedom, would not possibly agree to Trump’s outrageous demands unless they had a financial gun pointed directly at them? Campus leaders must—so the logic goes—be churning on the inside, desperately wanting to fight back even as they reluctantly recognize that capitulation is the only alternative. Fighting back poses too great a risk.
Capitulation as an explanation, however, is far too generous and rests on the false premise that—when faced with a profound threat to democracy—core institutions such as universities have, currently are, or will fight to protect our basic political norms.
The question we should be asking ourselves—especially those of us who live in academia and should know better—is why would we expect universities, or more accurately the administrators who run them, to protect free speech, academic freedom, and dissent at all, especially during moments of crisis when doing so entails taking real risks? University administrations, from the 1960s through the present, have a very thin track record of doing so. The reality is that most have worked overtime, often at the behest of the trustees that control them, to limit or crush our freedoms with such consistency, and over such a long period of time, that it is baffling that anyone would expect anything different as we race towards authoritarianism.
Complicity gets us far closer to a useful explanation of recent actions by campus leaders than capitulation. We need only listen to Columbia’s interim president. In explaining the university’s acceptance of the Trump administration’s demands for restoring the flow of federal dollars, Armstrong noted in an open letter to the campus community that the university’s actions were in line with the path it had been following in the past year and were “guided by our values, putting academic freedom, free expression, open inquiry, and respect for all at the fore of every decision we make.” Armstrong is correct when she suggests that Trump’s demands coincide with university values as defined by top campus leaders. It’s just that those values do not include, and never really did, academic freedom and free expression.
Understood this way, it seems quite likely that Columbia’s leaders accepted Trump’s demands not so much because they were forced to (capitulate), or because they saw fighting as either futile or potentially disastrous, but because they welcomed the opportunity and political cover that Trump’s order provided—to get rid of “unruly” students, increase the university’s capacity to limit protest and discipline students, staff, and faculty, and (bonus!) gain control over a department that by its very subject matter might prove troublesome. That’s complicity, not capitulation. It’s also right in line with what we have seen from university administrations, including Columbia’s, in the recent and not so recent past. Indeed, the current era of complicity started under Biden with the draconian response to pro-Palestine protests from universities throughout the country in 2024 (and of course has a much longer history dating at least to the 1950s).
The speed with which university administrations have abandoned DEI policies and practices must be seen in this light as well. The administrative commitment to very limited sets of DEI policies was always paper thin, or about as deep as their commitment to academic freedom. It’s more a marketing ploy and opportunity for virtue signaling than any sort of real political commitment. The fact that many universities scrubbed websites and academic units, in some cases overnight, of almost any mention of DEI when the political winds shifted is hardly surprising.
This is not to say that most campus leaders like or fully embrace Trump’s gestapo-like tactics (though some seem to be getting quite comfortable with it). But it is also the case—especially after the 2024 campus protests around Palestine—that most were on board with some sort of “course correction,” not unlike the position one finds on the opinion pages of the New York Times, which essentially argues that student protests went too far, faculty are too liberal, universities need to rein it in, and Trump has a point (for a good example of this “commonsense” drivel, see Greg Weiner’s piece).
To be sure, we should not downplay the distinction between Trump’s authoritarianism, which tends to see those on college campuses as dangerous radicals who need to be removed, from the liberal “course correction” that pushes reforms to “take politics out” of higher education. And yet, as soon as one starts to accept Trump’s fascist tactics for getting there, which increasingly embraces a grab-them-off-the-streets approach reminiscent of Central America paramilitaries in the 1980s, the distinction probably feels a bit like splitting hairs to those on the wrong end of it. Complicity, not capitulation.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that although highly paid administrators officially speak for universities, and have considerable power over university policies, they are not “universities” any more than are the boards of trustees that control them. Katrina Armstrong, or whoever replaces her, is not Columbia University. The students, faculty, and staff who make up the institution, as well as the communities they serve, are “the university.”
Put another way, to suggest that there is no reason to expect university administrators to be natural defenders of free speech and political dissent, and that history tells us that many of them will in fact be complicit with Trump’s brand of fascism, is not to say that we should not try to hold them accountable or that the fight is over and universities have been politically neutered. It is to say that we—“the university”—have to continue the fight that so many of us are already engaged in. Trump is coming for us because so much of the best that university faculty, staff, and students represent—science, education, reason, knowledge, and informed political engagement—poses a real threat to his project. Campus leaders may opt for complicity. Let’s make sure we are neither complicit nor capitulate.
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'This Is Authoritarianism': Lawmakers Demand Release of Abducted Tufts Student
Rumeysa Ozturk's case is one of several "deeply troubling incidents," they wrote. "The administration should not summarily detain and deport legal residents of this country merely for expressing their political views."
Mar 28, 2025
Most of Massachusetts' congressional delegation and dozens of other Democratic lawmakers on Friday called for the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk and demanded answers from members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet about her "disturbing arrest and detention" by immigration officials.
Ozturk, a Turkish national, is a Fulbright Scholar pursuing a Ph.D. in child and human development. She was targeted for deportation after co-authoring a Tufts Daily op-ed critical of the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip—like various other anti-genocide students recently "abducted" by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"The rationale for this arrest appears to be this student's expression of her political views," 34 lawmakers—led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, all Massachusetts Democrats—wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and ICE acting Director Todd Lyons. "We are calling for full due process in this case and are seeking answers about this case and about ICE's policy that has led to the identification and arrest of university students with valid legal status."
The letter details how Ozturk was yanked off a street in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Tuesday: "Surveillance footage of the arrest shows officers approach her in plain black clothing, with no visible badges. She screams as an officer grabs her hands. During the arrest, one officer pulls out his badge as other officers appear and cover their faces with masks. The surveillance video shows officers loading Ozturk into an SUV and departing in three unmarked vehicles. Bystanders observed that the incident 'looked like a kidnapping.'"
Rumeysa Ozturk was kidnapped in plain sight & sent to Louisiana to be locked in the same detention center Mahmoud Khalil was sent to. She's a peaceful protestor, grad student, & my constituent who has a right to free speech & due process. Now she's a political prisoner. Free her now.
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— Ayanna Pressley (@ayannapressley.bsky.social) March 26, 2025 at 6:56 PM
"While the Department of Homeland Security has not publicly specified the alleged activities that led to Ozturk's arrest, this arrest appears to be one of the latest examples in a string of ICE arrests of university students with valid green cards and visas because of their political views," the letter notes. "Tufts University was informed that Ozturk's 'visa has been terminated'—similar to other recent cases in which ICE agents have declared, without any judicial or administrative hearing, that they were 'terminating' or 'revoking' students' green cards and visas."
"These are deeply troubling incidents," the lawmakers asserted. "The administration should not summarily detain and deport legal residents of this country merely for expressing their political views. Absent compelling evidence justifying her detention and the revocation of her status, we call for Ozturk's release and the restoration of her visa."
They also demanded responses by April 5 to a detailed list of questions about Trump administration policies, Ozturk's case, and "health-related complaints" at the ICE facility in Louisiana where she was transferred, "including for denying food that appropriately accommodates detainees' religious views, serving undrinkable water, and not complying with protocols on the spread of infectious diseases."
The letter is signed by six other Massachusetts Democrats—Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Katherine Clark, Stephen Lynch, Jim McGovern, Seth Moulton, and Lori Trahan—as well as progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
"Absent from this list," notedZeteo reporter Prem Thakker, are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
Many of the letter's signatories have already individually spoken out about Ozturk's case this week.
"This is a horrifying violation of Rumeysa's constitutional rights to due process and free speech. She must be immediately released," Pressley said in a Wednesday statement, as reports emerged about her arrest. "And we won't stand by while the Trump administration continues to abduct students with legal status and attack our fundamental freedoms."
Markey shared the surveillance footage on social media Wednesday and wrote: "'Disappearances like these are part of Trump's all-out assault on our basic freedoms. This is authoritarianism, and we will not let this stand."
Warren also turned to social media on Wednesday, stressing that "this arrest is the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties," and calling out the Trump administration for "ripping people out of their communities without due process."
"We will push back," Warren pledged.
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Thousands Protest ICE Abduction of Tufts Student as Trump Attacks at Universities Intensify
"She was abducted by armed agents of the state because she dared take a stand against genocide," said one supporter of Rumeysa Ozturk.
Mar 27, 2025
As reports surfaced Wednesday that Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University Ph.D. student who was abducted by immigration agents off a street in Somerville, Massachusetts, had been taken to a detention center in Louisiana, thousands of people assembled in the Boston-area city to demand Ozturk's release.
Ozturk was transferred to the South Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center despite a court order barring immigration officials from moving her out-of-state without prior notice, and her lawyers shared a statement at Powder House Park saying they hadn't been notified about the Turkish student's exact whereabouts. They also said her F-1 student visa had been terminated.
Organizers wearing keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian scarf, said Ozturk is the victim of "state-sanctioned political kidnapping"—targeted by ICE and the Trump administration for co-authoring an op-ed that criticized Tufts administrators for their "inadequate and dismissive" response to a student demand that the university divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Ozturk co-wrote the letter last March, weeks before students at Columbia University led a nationwide campus protest movement against the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on Gaza, which at the time had killed more than 30,000 Palestinians—the majority of whom were civilians despite repeated claims by the U.S. and Israel that the operation was targeting Hamas.
Since then, the Gaza death toll has surged past 50,000, and the Trump administration has cracked down on international students and organizers who participated in anti-Israel protests.
"She was abducted by armed agents of the state because she dared take a stand against genocide," said Lea Kayali of the Palestinian Youth Movement at the rally in Somerville. "And even though she may not consider herself an activist, she has more courage in the hand she wrote that article with than all of [President Donald] Trump's cronies combined."
As organizers noted that 370 people have been arrested in the Boston area by ICE in the last week—with officials calling some "collateral" in Trump's mass deportation campaign—demonstrators chanted, "Free Rumeysa, free them all!" and, "Come for one, face us all!"
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Ozturk's detention "the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties."
"The Trump administration is targeting students with legal status and ripping people out of their communities without due process," said Warren. "This is an attack on our Constitution and basic freedoms—and we will push back."
Organizers urged attendees to focus on "community building," not just rallies, in response to ICE's repeated abductions.
"I don't need you to come to any more rallies. I need you to know your neighbors," said Fatema Ahmad, executive director of the Muslim Justice League. "There is no more time for these rallies and these marches where you say these things and you go home and you wait for another social media post to tell you to come here. You have to get organized."
Later Wednesday evening, AL.comreported that ICE's hunt for international students had reached the University of Alabama (UA). As the student-run newspaper, The Crimson White, reported, Iranian mechanical engineering doctoral student Alireza Doroudi was arrested early Tuesday morning by ICE agents. He was issued an F-1 student visa in January 2023 but had it revoked six months after he arrived in the U.S.
"After receiving the revocation notice, Alireza immediately contacted ISSS [International Student and Scholar Service] at University of Alabama," read a message sent in a group chat including Iranian students, according to The Crimson White. "ISSS replied with confidence, stating that his case was not unusual or problematic and that he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he maintained his student status."
The University of Alabama Democrats said in response to Doroudi's abduction and detention in an undisclosed location, "Our fears have come to pass."
"Donald Trump, [border czar] Tom Homan, and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA's international community," the group said. "As far as we know right now, ICE is yet to provide any justification for their actions, so we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated, as has been seen in other universities around the country."
The targeting of foreign students at Columbia, Tufts, Georgetown, and other universities in recent weeks has led to outcry among academics, particularly as the ICE abductions have taken place alongside threats from the Trump administration to pull funding from schools for not sufficiently cracking down on alleged antisemitism on campus—which the White House has conflated with calls for Palestinian liberation and opposition to Israel's U.S.-backed attacks.
More than 600 members of the Harvard University faculty signed a letter to the school's governing board Wednesday warning that "ongoing attacks on American universities threaten bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and inquiry." The faculty called on administrators to defy any orders that threaten academic freedom.
Nearly 1,400 academics have also called for a boycott of Columbia over its refusal to defend and protect students against Trump's attacks on pro-Palestinian protesters.
"We are appalled that Columbia's leadership has colluded with the authoritarian suppression of its students by fully capitulating to the conditions imposed by the Trump administration for the release of $400 million in grants withdrawn on March 7, and that it did so against the warning issued by constitutional law scholars that this course of action 'creates a dangerous precedent for every recipient of federal financial assistance,'" reads a letter from supporters of the academic boycott.
Former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil remains in detention in Louisiana after being abducted by plainclothes immigration agents earlier this month for leading negotiations with Columbia regarding divestment from Israel, while Ph.D. candidate Ranjani Srinivasan fled the country after her visa was revoked and Columbia unenrolled her. Columbia also expelled Grant Miner, a Jewish student and labor leader who occupied a campus building last spring, and revoked degrees from some student protesters.
"Universities cannot pretend to hold higher education sacred while repressing students and faculty, undermining free speech and academic freedom, and prohibiting dissent," reads the letter. "Every such act of craven suppression and compliance only further undermines the university and emboldens the reactionary forces intent on destroying it."
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