US President Trump’s authoritarian attacks on universities have emerged as a systematic assault on American higher education, following playbooks used by autocratic regimes in Hungary, Russia, and Turkey. On 14 May 2025, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism reported that the Trump administration has launched relentless attacks on universities using federal funding as leverage to impose far-right ideology and silence opposition voices. The article begins:
Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump and his cabinet of far-right cronies have launched relentless attacks on America’s higher education system. These moves are reminiscent of actions in other countries experiencing democratic backsliding such as Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and India, where regimes have quashed independent thought and research. In the US, self-censorship is now rising, critical research has been halted, and some academics are fleeing the country. Meanwhile, Europeans and others are snapping up American talent that refuses to submit. Hungary, which has close ties to Trump and his allies, has been a university-smashing innovator. More than simply undermining the independence of higher education, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took public funding away from existing universities and propped up his own collection of “pet universities” to preach his ideological agenda. Laws restricted the operations of universities deemed to be a part of the opposition.
Read more: https://globalextremism.org/post/trumps-attacks-on-american-universities/
Key Points
- Nearly one-third of Project 2025’s university-related policies have been implemented within Trump’s first 12 weeks in office
- Columbia University faced $400 million in withheld federal funding and laid off over 180 employees under administration pressure
- Over 1,800 international students have had their legal immigration status unilaterally revoked by the State Department
- Funding freezes totaling billions have hit major universities including Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, and Columbia for alleged antisemitism investigations
Global National Conservative Alliance Assaults Universities in Ideological Power Play
The assault on universities by the Global National Conservative Alliance is accelerating as part of a transatlantic campaign to reshape academic autonomy and ideological discourse. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s government has centralized control over higher education through public trust foundations, prompting the EU to exclude 21 Hungarian universities from Erasmus and Horizon funding due to rule-of-law breaches and concerns over academic independence. The Mathias Corvinus Collegium, closely tied to Orbán’s administration, has become a hub for transatlantic right-wing ideologues, sponsoring events and positions for prominent American conservatives.
In the United States, conservative activists like Christopher Rufo have adopted Gramscian tactics, drawing from theories of cultural hegemony to challenge progressive dominance in academia, and spearheading campaigns that have pressured elite institutions and reshaped national debates on critical race theory and diversity initiatives. These developments are not isolated: external analyses highlight how the erosion of academic freedom is often masked by rhetoric about defending traditional values. Critics warn of the risks posed by the politicization of academic institutions, with conservative networks increasingly collaborating across borders to export and reinforce illiberal narratives.
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Disclaimer
The Global Influence Operations Report (GIOR) employs AI throughout the posting process, including generating summaries of news items, the introduction, key points, and often the “context” section. We recommend verifying all information before use. Additionally, images are AI-generated and intended solely for illustrative purposes. While they represent the events or individuals discussed, they should not be interpreted as real-world photography.
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