Educate to retaliate

When culture and education are attacked, our voices must rise.

One of the best autobiographies I’ve read in recent years is Educated by Tara Westover. In it, she recounts her upbringing in a survivalist Mormon family and how education became her ticket not just to knowledge, but to a broader, freer life beyond the toxic confines of her childhood. That book has been lingering in my mind lately, likely for two reasons. First, the recent attacks on free-thinking and educational institutions by the Trump administration. And second, the administration’s penchant for bullying and the way institutions are forced to grapple with the age-old dilemma: confront the bully or cower to survive.

During the elections, I, like many, urged people to read Project 2025 — the 920-page fever dream of policy proposals backed by Trump-aligned conservatives. Trump, of course, distanced himself from it (presumably to sound less terrifying to moderate voters), but a quick glance at his campaign’s ‘Agenda 47’ shows it’s no mere fantasy.

In this blueprint, higher education gets a starring role, though not in a good way. Among the promises: end student loan forgiveness and repayment programmes; abolish the Department of Education (with whatever’s left scattered across agencies like sad confetti); replace career civil servants with political loyalists; sideline established college accreditors in favour of state-run, ideologically aligned alternatives; limit what students can learn and what professors can teach (especially anything labelled ‘critical race theory’, which seems to have become the Voldemort of right-wing politics); roll back protections for LGBTQ+ students and women; and, just for good measure, downplay the value of a college degree altogether, suggesting it should only be required for federal jobs in the rarest of cases.¹

If you’ve been reading the headlines lately, it’s clear that this isn’t just a wishlist. It’s a to-do list — and it’s being checked off.

To be clear, this isn’t an essay glorifying university degrees as the be-all-end-all of intelligence or success. Nor am I dismissing the value of practical qualifications. But I would argue that the real crisis in the US — and, increasingly, across the West — isn’t over-education. It’s a dangerous cocktail of under-education and overexposure to misinformation.

‘Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.’

- Nelson Mandela

The sky-high cost of higher education has made it inaccessible to many Americans (roughly 42.7 million people in the U.S. hold federal student loan debt).² And the way education is funded — predominantly through state and local budgets, with the federal government contributing mostly through targeted programmes for disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and specific educational initiatives³ — only deepens the inequality. According to Statista, about 37.3% of Americans aged 25 and older have graduated from college.⁴ And yet, more than half of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level.⁵ Let that sink in.

This patchwork funding model makes it painfully easy for federal rollbacks, such as the scrapping of DEI initiatives, to trickle down and impact the most vulnerable students first (more on that in a separate essay). And when a government starts nudging state officials toward ideological loyalty, it can reshape the entire educational landscape — sometimes irreversibly.

While I reject the elitist notion that brilliance lives exclusively in Ivy League lecture halls, I do believe that this new brand of disdain for higher education is symptomatic of something far more sinister. When an administration starts belittling learning, limiting access to information and punishing institutions for independent thought, it’s not just an education policy — it’s a warning sign.

One of the US’s leading experts on fascism, Jason Stanley — Yale philosophy professor and author of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them — recently accepted a position at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy because he’s terrified of what’s happening in America. Stanley, the Jewish son of Holocaust survivors and father of two Black sons, has openly said he's leaving for the sake of their future, citing chilling parallels between today’s US and 1930s Nazi Germany — specifically, the ‘brain drain’ of intellectuals fleeing an increasingly hostile environment. Trump's assault on academia has been the final straw for him and many others.⁶

In early March, the Trump administration announced it would pull $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, citing its alleged failure to curb antisemitism. Columbia, in response, cracked down hard on pro-Palestinian protests, banning groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, and even facilitating student arrests. One student, Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia, has been detained for participating in a non-violent protest.⁷

Emboldened, Trump soon turned his sights on Harvard. The administration sent the university a list of demands: reform the curriculum, gut DEI initiatives and overhaul admissions policies, or face a ban on enrolling international students and the removal of Harvard’s valuable tax exemption, a move that could cost the university millions of dollars each year.⁸

Harvard, to its credit, didn’t bow. President Alan M. Garber declared Harvard would not surrender its independence or constitutional rights.⁹ Within mere hours, the administration retaliated by pausing $2.2 billion in multi-year grants, freezing key research programmes. Harvard Medical School professor David R. Walt, for instance, lost hundreds of thousands in funding for diagnostic research on ALS, Parkinson’s, cancer and infectious diseases.¹⁰

Regardless of your political leanings, it’s hard to argue that universities aren't vital. They're not just ivory towers for philosophical debates about the meaning of life (although, let’s be honest, that’s part of their charm). They’re engines of economic growth, hubs of scientific innovation and pillars of democratic society. Trying to ‘reform’ them under the guise of protecting free speech or fighting terrorism sounds suspiciously like scapegoating.

Even more ironic: Trump himself holds a bachelor’s degree, as do all but one of his cabinet members. JD Vance, one of his loudest surrogates claiming universities are ‘hostile to conservatives’, attended Yale Law School — arguably one of the most elite institutions in the country.¹¹

So if they valued education enough for themselves, why restrict it for everyone else?

The answer lies, unsurprisingly, in history. As Stanley notes, authoritarian leaders have always targeted universities. Institutions that nurture free expression and critical thinking threaten regimes that thrive on obedience.¹² Mussolini forced university professors to swear loyalty oaths; Nazi Germany started firing Jewish professors and banning Jewish students in the 1930s.¹³ More recently, Viktor Orbán expelled the Central European University from Hungary in 2018, forcing it to move to Vienna.¹⁴ Also, leaders like Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey have repeatedly accused universities and students of ‘supporting terrorism’ — a chillingly familiar tactic.¹⁵

If we look at history, one thing becomes clear: authoritarians always go for the universities first. Why? Because students have consistently been a powerful source of resistance against authoritarian regimes and unjust wars. Just think back to the Vietnam War, when student organisations, such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), played a key role in organising and amplifying anti-war activism in the mid-to-late 1960s.¹⁶ It’s no surprise, then, that Trump’s threats have centred around pro-Palestinian protests — protests that, while amplified by the media, have remained completely peaceful.

In this case, while antisemitism is undeniably a real and serious issue, it is being exploited to justify pressure on universities and other educational institutions. As Stanley points out, framing these crackdowns as actions taken on behalf of the Jewish community is not only misleading but dangerously counterproductive: it risks fuelling antisemitic sentiment by perpetuating the harmful stereotype that Jewish people control powerful institutions.¹⁷ Historically, American Jews have stood firmly against tyranny for very clear and painful reasons, and this attempt to twist that narrative is simply a way to justify the broader goal of controlling free-thinking spaces.

This isn’t just about universities, either. Trump’s proposals also target museums and libraries, institutions equally vital to a healthy democracy. The plan to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) — and the appointment of Keith E. Sonderling to reshape it around ‘patriotism’ and ‘American exceptionalism’ — says it all.¹⁸ These spaces aren't just cultural luxuries; they’re critical thinking factories. They’re where people go to encounter different perspectives, learn from history and develop empathy.

Libraries, for instance, are indispensable lifelines for millions — around 77 million Americans rely on them annually for internet access alone.¹⁹ They're also major drivers of workforce development and training.

So, no, this isn’t about saving money. If it were, we wouldn’t have seen the simultaneous surge in library book bans — 1,247 challenges last year alone, mainly targeting books on race, gender identity and LGBTQ+ experiences.²⁰ For example, classics like The Handmaid’s Tale, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Catcher in the Rye, 1984 and To Kill a Mockingbird are among the ‘dangerous’ literature under attack.²¹

This isn’t about budgets. It’s about ideology.

It’s about enforcing a Christian nationalist agenda, silencing diverse stories and narrowing the collective imagination.

Universities, libraries and museums are champions of curiosity, human understanding and debate. Writing, painting, reading, singing — these are acts of enquiry, and sometimes, acts of resistance. That’s why these institutions matter, and why this very newsletter exists.

They are keys to democracy. And when authoritarians rise, they reach for those keys first.

They rely on fear — fear of losing funding, fear of solvency — to force compliance.

But just as Tara Westover found liberation through education in Educated, we must remember that knowledge remains the path to freedom. A bully seeks to sap our confidence through intimidation, but the insecurity lies with them, not us.

Harvard is setting a crucial precedent by refusing to back down. With its financial clout and institutional heft, it can embolden others to resist too. If it doesn’t speak up, it will be even more impossible for smaller, more vulnerable institutions to fight back.²²

The stakes are high — not just for universities, but for research, public discourse and democratic resilience.

As Stanley warns, it’s dangerously naive to think an authoritarian administration will limit its targets to non-citizens and academia. And equally naive to think that what happens in America won’t ripple outward — signs of similar ideological movements are already visible in Europe, from Poland to Hungary to Italy.

I understand smaller institutions may fear speaking out. But if we don’t act while it’s still relatively safe to do so, we may soon find the window closed. Bullies only win when we let them believe they have the upper hand.

That’s why wealthier institutions, and democratic allies worldwide, have a responsibility to resist now — not later. This urgency extends beyond the assault on education and culture to other threats as well, such as tariffs.

Silence is complicity. And educational and cultural institutions are always worth fighting for, because without them, democracy itself crumbles.

As German pastor Martin Niemöller famously wrote in First They Came:

‘Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.’

Let’s make sure no one is left standing alone.

1. ‘Project 2025 and Higher Education’. National Education Association, https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/project-2025-and-higher-education. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.

2. ‘Student Loan Debt Statistics’. Education Data Initiative, https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.

3. ‘Educational Attainment in the U.S.’ Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/184260/educational-attainment-in-the-us/. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.

4. ‘Literacy Statistics 2024-2025: Where We Are Now.’ The National Literacy Institute, https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

5. ‘Education Funding’. Discovery Education, https://www.discoveryeducation.com/learn/education-funding/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

6. Haltiwanger, John. ‘Trump’s Authoritarian Vision for American Universities’. Foreign Policy, 16 Apr. 2025, https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/04/16/trump-authoritarians-universities-fascism-jason-stanley/.

7. ‘Mahmoud Khalil: Columbia Graduate Detained Over Protest’. BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1egdy24v7po. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

8. —. BBC News. (repeat citation)

9. ‘Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Higher Education Policy’. The Guardian, 21 Apr. 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/21/harvard-sues-trump-administration. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

10. ‘Research Center Stage Amid Trump Administration Changes’. The Harvard Crimson, 15 Apr. 2025, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/15/research-center-stage-trump/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

11. —. BBC News. (repeat citation)

12. —. Foreign Policy. (repeat citation)

13. ‘Higher Education in Nazi Germany’. USHMM Perspectives, https://perspectives.ushmm.org/collection/higher-education-in-nazi-germany. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

14. —. Foreign Policy. (repeat citation)

15. Enos, Ryan D., and Steven Levitsky. ‘Harvard and Columbia Confront Trump’s Assault on Higher Education’. The Harvard Crimson, 14 Mar. 2025, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/14/enos-levitsky-harvard-columbia-trump/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

16. ‘Students for a Democratic Society‘. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Students-for-a-Democratic-Society. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

17. —. Foreign Policy. (repeat citation)

18. ‘Trump’s Attack on Libraries Is Devastating’. The Guardian, 21 Mar. 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/21/trump-attack-libraries-devastating. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

19. —. The Guardian. (repeat citation)

20. —. The Guardian. (repeat citation)

21. ‘List of Most Commonly Challenged Books in the United States’. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States. Accessed 26 Apr. 2025.

22. —. The Harvard Crimson. (repeat citation)