Universities Push To Appease Trump --- Under attack, schools are quietly trying to make friends in Washington

"WASHINGTON -- When University of Michigan President Santa Ono sat down for breakfast earlier this month with a group of lawmakers from his home state, the message was clear: The school was ready to play ball with Trump's Washington.

It was time for universities to "wake up" and start addressing the reasons why they have lost so much trust, Ono told the bipartisan group in a hotel conference room near the Capitol, according to people with knowledge of the meeting. Ono added that universities should listen to their most "vocal critics."

University leaders, pinned between liberal faculty and the Trump administration, are quietly trying to make friends in Washington amid widespread concerns about research budgets, student aid and the White House's quest to push academia to the right.

During his election campaign, President Trump vowed "to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical Left," and he has moved quickly to target diversity, equity and inclusion programs, alleged antisemitism and anything perceived as "woke." He has threatened to pull funding from universities that don't comply.

Columbia University, which came under scrutiny for its handling of pro-Palestinian protests last year, gave in on Friday to a far-reaching list of Trump's demands after he revoked $400 million in federal funding. Other schools closely watched the days of tense negotiations. Behind the scenes, Columbia officials have had a presence in D.C. in recent weeks, too, often asking lawmakers how to restore confidence in the university, according to people familiar with the meetings.

University presidents have poured into Washington this year to meet with lawmakers and try to shore up support. Some schools have handed out talking points about the value of research funding and endowments to high-profile alumni. And they're hiring new help: More than 50 colleges and universities, including big-name institutions like Harvard, Columbia and Yale, have hired new lobbyists since Trump was re-elected, disclosures show.

Stanford University tapped former Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, among others. Duke University and Wake Forest University have hired Richard Burr, a former Republican Senator. Harvard and Nashville-based Vanderbilt University have sought out Ballard Partners, whose principal Brian Ballard is known for his close connections to Trump's circle.

The day after Trump was elected to chair the board of Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, hundreds of higher education leaders gathered in an auditorium there for a briefing from a leading trade group, the American Council on Education. The group's president, Ted Mitchell vowed a fight, saying, "We will not cower," according to trade industry reports and people who saw the speech. But speakers also acknowledged the speed of Trump's actions have caused fear and overwhelmed the sector.

"This is just the beginning," Jonathan Fansmith, the group's senior vice president for government relations, warned from the stage.

Critics say universities had this crackdown coming after failing to hold up their end of a longtime social contract. Faculty enjoy billions of dollars in government funding, tenure protections and academic autonomy, and detractors accuse them of indoctrinating young people with left-wing ideology rather than creating productive, patriotic citizens.

Lawmakers are expected to announce multiple hearings in the coming weeks on antisemitism. The move alarms universities still haunted by the combative 2023 hearing on the same subject, when the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dodged lawmaker questions and struggled to defend their institutions' approach to campus protests following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Two of the three resigned within weeks.

Proposed tax and loan changes -- such as raising and expanding a tax on college and university endowments that currently applies to only the wealthiest institutions -- could also upend schools' financial model. Yale Law School alumnus JD Vance has proposed increasing the tax on endowment income from its current 1.4% to 35%, and expanding the universities affected to include Columbia.

Harvard alumnus Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) has sponsored two bills targeting the endowment tax, one of which would raise an estimated $16.6 billion through a one-time tax on the biggest endowments.

Michigan Republican Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, is among the proponents of a particularly controversial idea: Making institutions whose graduates don't repay federal student loans pay for a portion of the money lost to the federal government.

Higher-education officials say the moves would lead to less financial aid and reduced access for students. At least some of the proposals have a shot at becoming law, given they can pass via Congress's reconciliation process, which allows lawmakers to pass bills related to taxes and spending with a simple majority of votes in the Senate, sidestepping the usual 60-vote threshold.

Trump allies hope the changes could raise revenue for the federal government and help bring down the cost of college over time. But many make no secret that their primary goal is to use punitive policies to make universities less progressive.

"There's got to be course correction," said Lindsey Burke, director at the center for education policy at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and the author of a chapter on education in the Project 2025 agenda.

In the past, colleges and universities have largely enjoyed a cozy relationship with Washington. Universities are economic engines in many congressional districts -- and they can offer perks like football tickets and honorary degrees in exchange for their hometown lawmakers' ears.

Now few House lawmakers -- and virtually no Republicans -- are interested in going to bat for higher education, lobbyists, trade groups and officials said.

Dozens of schools, including the University of California system and Harvard, have paused hiring amid concerns over the future of federal funding. The National Institutes of Health normally provides billions of dollars to universities every year for medical and public-health research. Proposed cuts to that funding are now being challenged in courts. In the meantime, some schools have rescinded admission offers to graduate students.

Earlier this month, Trump paused $175 million in federal funds to the University of Pennsylvania for allowing a transgender athlete to compete on the women's swim team in 2022.

While many faculty members argue universities shouldn't yield to Trump, they are in a tricky spot.

It isn't uncommon for a quarter or more of the operating budget of a large university to come from federal sources in the forms of student loans, Pell Grants and research funding -- research that supporters say goes on to produce innovations and fuel the broader economy.

On campus, many faculty and staff still embrace the things Trump is trying to change. Many higher-education institutions still have senior-level officials focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. One lobbyist recalled a video call with university clients who listed their pronouns under their names, a practice many who work with the federal government quickly abandoned after Trump's November victory.

Lobbyists say they are advising schools to keep their lobbying secret to avoid winding up a target.

"There is a lot of fear. I've never seen anything like it," said the president of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Michael Roth. "People are afraid to speak out."

Roth -- whose university is in a state with entirely Democratic representation -- is one of few making the case to lawmakers that they have a moral obligation to stand up to the Trump administration. Trump's actions constitute a "war on civil society," Roth has told Connecticut lawmakers. He's also spoken with Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet of Colorado -- both Wesleyan alumni. Colleges and universities are the first line of defense, he said.

Many university leaders in blue states are hoping their red-state counterparts will persuade their representatives to spare research funding and avert taxes.

Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis -- which is known to have a friendly relationship with Missouri Republican Jason Smith, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee -- is sponsoring ads in Politico newsletters linking to a joint statement that pledges to avoid "political ideology" or "a particular vision of social change."

Earlier this month, chief research officers from top universities met with Rep. Brian Babin (R, Tex.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D, Cal.), leaders of the House science committee. They pleaded against funding cuts at major science agencies and discussed keeping highly skilled foreign workers, who staff many research labs, in science and technology.

Smaller liberal-arts colleges have their own case to make. Douglas Hicks, president of North Carolina-based Davidson College -- which is perhaps best known as the alma mater of basketball star Stephen Curry -- was on Capitol Hill last week explaining how an endowment tax would hurt the college's ability to provide financial aid to students.

The lighter duties of a college president still called. After one meeting, Hicks changed into red-and-black Davidson colors and decamped to Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown neighborhood to attend a pregame party at a sports bar and then a Davidson men's basketball conference game. After the game, he put the suit back on and returned to Capitol Hill.

Davidson has also hired a lobbyist for the first time in modern memory and is working with a coalition of other small liberal-arts colleges that hired its own firm in Washington.

The group is trying to listen first and ask questions later, Hicks and others familiar with the effort said. They arrive at meetings armed with data about how changes could hurt students at small schools where endowment money helps fund financial aid. And they patiently answer questions about potential antisemitism on campus.

"Taking a combative approach is a last resort," Hicks said. "Building relationships and communicating what our values are is always preferable."" [1]

1.   Universities Push To Appease Trump --- Under attack, schools are quietly trying to make friends in Washington. Severns, Maggie.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 25 Mar 2025: A1.