Will you sign the petition urging colleges and universities to fight back against the Trump administration’s threats to academic freedom?
Dear fellow MoveOn member,
Right now, President Donald Trump has frozen $2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard University and is attempting to end its tax-exempt status.1
Why? Because Harvard had the courage to stand up to Trump’s attacks on the free speech of their faculty and students—and we need more to join them.
Trump is trying to force universities to remove academic departments from faculty control, “audit” the viewpoints of students and faculty, and help federal authorities as they target international students for detention and deportation.2
Harvard is the first university to openly defy the administration, refusing to “surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”3 Since then, other universities and colleges have joined it, including Brown, Princeton, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois.4 We need them to keep fighting and for others to join in.
Add your name to defend against Trump’s attacks on the freedom to learn and think freely!
Trump has put billions of federal dollars under threat unless universities comply with his outrageous, politicized demands.
Many of America’s universities are standing up for their rights—and ours. More than 150 university presidents across the U.S. have come together to speak out against Trump’s attacks.5
Free speech and intellectual freedom are essential to a healthy democracy. Colleges and universities are one place where people come to explore ideas, ask tough questions, and challenge the status quo.
But these freedoms are under threat. The Trump administration is targeting schools because he wants to silence students and professors and force them to march in lockstep with his hateful agenda. He wants to quell the power that exists in these academic spaces. Together, we can show up with unified, principled resistance and protect academic freedom.
Click here to sign the petition and share with three friends to spread the word.
Thanks for all you do.
–Common Cause
Sources:
1. “Trump administration freezes future grants to Harvard,” Reuters, May 5, 2025
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-freezes-billions-grant-funding-harvard-2025-05-05/
2. “Inside Trump’s Pressure Campaign on Universities,” The New York Times, April 14, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/us/politics/trump-pressure-universities.html
3. “Harvard’s fight against Trump could test limits of government power,” PBS News, April 16, 2025
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/harvards-fight-against-trump-could-test-limits-of-government-power
4. “Multiple Colleges Join Harvard in Fight Against Trump Admin,” Newsweek, April 15, 2025
https://www.newsweek.com/multiple-colleges-harvard-fight-trump-admin-2059807
5. “Over 150 US university presidents sign letter decrying Trump administration,” The Guardian, April 22, 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/21/us-university-presidents-trump-administration
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