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Donald Trump poised to shake up America’s woke colleges and universities

President-elect Donald Trump plans to use federal funding as leverage to eliminate woke policies in education, including colleges and universities where academic freedom has been measurably on the decline. 

Mr. Trump has long threatened to yank billions in funding from schools that incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies and what he calls “anti-American insanity” that has taken over campuses.

His appointees and advisors are already making plans to try to expand academic freedom and force colleges and universities to end DEI policies that critics say have corrupted higher education and squelched important research. 

“What I’ve seen from the campaign and senior leaders is that higher education is having its moment, and there’s a lot of attention to the climate on college campuses and DEI being a big part of that problem,” Adam Kissel,  visiting fellow in the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, said. 

Stanford University physician and economist Jay Bhattacharya, who is Mr. Trump’s pick to run the National Institutes of Health, said he plans to make colleges and universities pay for policies that threaten free speech on campus.

Dr. Bhattacharya, a longtime critic of COVID restrictions, is weighing plans to base coveted NIH grants in part on free-speech rankings compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).

At the same time, Mr. Trump is eyeing a proposal presented by conservative activist Christopher Rufo to root out DEI in college campuses by dangling the threat of cutting federal funding.

The NIH awards more than $25 billion in grants to universities each year. Top awardees include Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University and Columbia University. 

Robert Shibley, a campus advocacy lawyer for FIRE and its executive director, said Dr. Bhattacharya’s proposal would facilitate broader research and increase the value of federal funding by focusing on institutions that do not snuff out campus censorship.

“The NIH and other grant-making agencies have so much ability to influence how universities behave because so many of the purse strings are under their control,” Mr. Shibley said.  

Academic freedom is stifled at major universities, according to a new report published by the foundation. It found up to 56% of faculty were “self-censoring” due to “fear of causing controversy.” Among faculty surveyed, 20% said this fear influenced their chosen research topics.

According to an anonymous professor teaching at the University of Texas at Austin, the report said, faculty “feel pressure to conceal certain opinions. The atmosphere in certain academic units can be cult-like and fascistic.”

FIRE’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings are based on surveys of college undergraduates.

The survey ranked Harvard University dead last in permitting free speech. The school received $676 million in federal funding last year.

Columbia University, New York University, University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College ranked in the bottom five in the free speech survey.

The top-ranked schools for free speech were the University of Virginia, Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and Georgia Tech.

Dr. Bhattacharya hasn’t specifically outlined how he’ll use free speech rankings to determine NIH grant awardees. He did not respond to a request for an interview.

The president-elect’s bid to cut out DEI comes after more than a  year of turmoil from anti-Israel protests on college campuses over the war in Gaza. The unrest exposed a wave of antisemitism on campuses that further fueled anger at rising tuition prices and the left-wing ideology that has taken over many colleges and universities. 

During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump threatened to fine schools the entire amount of their endowments if they did not end DEI policies, which he said amounted to illegal discrimination “under the guise of equity.”

He recently solicited ideas from Mr. Rufo, a Manhattan Institute scholar who helped expose plagiarism by university leaders. 

Mr. Rufo helped push out Harvard President Claudine Gay, who resigned after the school cited “improper citations” in her work and following criticism of her response to antisemitism on campus.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Mr. Rufo to serve as a trustee at the New College of Florida, where he helped rid the school of its DEI program. 

Mr. Rufo met recently with Mr. Trump’s staff at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect’s residence in South Florida, to discuss his proposal to end DEI nationally.

He’s urging Mr. Trump to issue an executive order to abolish DEI across the government, which could impact federal funds going to colleges and universities.

“If he decides to pursue that executive order, it would apply to the Ivy League universities, which, through my reporting and the reporting of others, it’s very clear they’re discriminating on the basis of race,” Mr. Rufo told Fox News. “Their DEI programs are flatly illegal and unconstitutional, and the president has the opportunity to take action.”

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