President Donald Trump and many of his supporters have made no attempt to hide their contempt for universities and academics.

Higher education institutions were in the president’s crosshairs from the moment he stepped foot in the White House for his second term. No matter if it’s funding, professors, international students or university leadership, no part of university life is safe under the Trump administration.

From Florida to Alaska, universities across the nation have seen federal grants they relied on reduced or eliminated within the past year, forcing them to either find new sources of funding or make cutbacks. The federal government cut around $11 billion in grant money in just the first few months of Trump’s second term.

The University of Minnesota was no exception, with 98 federal grants worth millions of dollars either suspended or terminated.

University assistant professor of Chicano and Latino studies Jessica Lopez Lyman said while she is concerned about the threats to grant funding for both academia and the arts, researchers and artists will continue to work as best they can.

“The lack of grant funding and the way that private foundations are cowering to the current administration is not only very disappointing, but detrimental,” Lopez Lyman said. “For a lot of arts organizations and artists, the goal over the next three years is survival.”

But money is just one front on which this war on education is being fought. 

Professors have to navigate teaching in a time when a lesson on a contentious topic can get them fired and even cause long-lasting ripple effects, such as the resignation of their university’s president.

University political science professor August Nimtz said the United States has an unfortunate history of academic censorship and targeting professors, with professors having to sign anything from anti-communist contracts to “loyalty oaths” in the past.

“It is not the first time the government at the federal level and the local level have gone after professors,” Nimtz said. “During the McCarthy period, that was the norm.”

Many of the modern-day attacks on higher education come in the form of a war on diversity, equity and inclusion. More than 50 universities have been investigated by the federal government in an effort to eliminate alleged DEI programs.

Lopez Lyman said, despite the fact that her department is clear about being a purely academic discipline with extensive research and rigorous peer review, some people may still view it as a DEI program simply because of the subjects it deals with.

“In our department of Chicano and Latino Studies, we don’t do DEI work,” Lopez Lyman said. “We are a discipline that has existed decades before. I think the misconception is that ethnic studies is DEI, so of course, there’s going to be people who view our department and might have questions about how we are allowed to still do our work.”

The idea that entire areas of study are frivolous, prejudicial or pointless simply because they deal with social subjects or specific groups of people is incredibly harmful.

Our nation’s base of knowledge relies on the principle that professors are free to study as many aspects of life as possible, and holding them back with the fear of punishment is not only self-destructive but also keeps us from the truth.

Yet, the attacks on higher education continue anyway. Why are universities such a juicy target for the Trump administration?

Nimtz said the current hierarchical structure and elite status of academia make higher education institutions appear like ivory towers, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from demagogues and opportunists who want to undermine academia for their own political gain.

“These are people who are looking to be elected, re-elected and so on,” Nimtz said. “Beating up on the elite academy is the game of today. That’s the way you get re-elected.”

While things may seem bleak for higher education, the same status that made universities a way to score political points also ensures they are fairly resilient. This gives us the ability to push back against these attacks on education if we all act together.

Lopez Lyman said while the University Faculty Senate passed a measure joining the Mutual Academic Defense Compact, she is still waiting to hear more from the University’s administration on how they plan to approach Trump’s attacks on higher education, as well as how they will support students of color who are vulnerable in the current climate.

“I look forward to our current administration at the University of Minnesota really following the mission and standing as leaders with other universities to not capitulate,” Lopez Lyman said. “The universities, free press, free speech, these are cornerstones of democracy, and it’s important that we do not let them erode.”

Another important aspect of restoring trust in higher education is honesty and transparency, two things that would bring lofty institutions like universities back down to earth.

Nimtz said that, as he saw the backlash surrounding a fellow Marxist professor in the 1970s, he would encourage his fellow professors to be transparent about their beliefs while also fostering a classroom environment where all students can share their beliefs and experiences.

“I wish my colleagues would be more open with their politics,” Nimtz said. “I think our students are very smart. Our students know that we all have political perspectives, and we should just be open.”

Like everything else in this world, higher education is far from perfect. But if you disagree with researchers or scholars about something, the correct course of action is to do the research and prove them wrong, not to cut research funding and punish them.

The answer to disagreeing with members of mainstream academia is not, and will never be, censorship. Blocking research based solely on its subject matter is not only undemocratic, but erodes faith in our common knowledge.

These sieges of scholars, persecutions of professors and attacks on academics must stop before truth and knowledge become faded memories of a once-educated past.