The dozen board members of the prestigious #Fulbright program that promotes #international #educational exchanges resigned on Wednesday because of what they said was #political #interference by the #Trump admin in their operations, acc/to people familiar w/the issues & a board memo obtained by NYT.
#law #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #SeparationOfPowers #tyranny #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
The members are concerned that political appointees at the #State Dept, which manages the program, are acting illegally by canceling the awarding of #Fulbright #scholarships to almost 200 American #professors & #researchers who are prepared to go to #universities & other #research institutions overseas starting this summer, …including Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
#law #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #tyranny #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
The board approved those scholars over the winter after a yearlong selection process, & the #State Dept was supposed to send acceptance letters by April, the people said. 🚨🚨🚨 But instead, the board learned that the office of public *diplomacy* at the agency had begun sending REJECTION letters to the #scholars based mainly on their #research topics, they said.
#law #Fulbright #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #tyranny #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
In addition, the #State Dept is reviewing the applications of about 1,200 scholars from other countries who have already been approved by the board to come to the #UnitedStates, the people said. Those foreign #scholars were also supposed to receive acceptance letters around April.
#law #Fulbright #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #tyranny #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
The memo written by the board says that members are resigning “rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the #law, compromise #US national interests & #integrity, & undermine the mission & mandates #Congress established for the #Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago,” according to a copy obtained by The Times.
#FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #tyranny #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
The board is also concerned that the budget that Secretary of #State #MarcoRubio is requesting from #Congress for the next fiscal
year #cuts spending for the Bureau of #Educational & #Cultural Affairs, which includes the #Fulbright program, to $50 million from $691 million this fiscal year. [Holy crap!!! That’s insane]
#law #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #SeparationOfPowers #Trump #tyranny #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
The actions come as #Trump & his top aides seek to bend #academic institutions to their #ideological beliefs. The #State Dept’s public *diplomacy* office is run by #DarrenBeattie, a political appointee who was fired from a job during the first Trump admin after he gave a talk at a #WhiteNationalist conference. He has made social media posts on white grievances, including one saying “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”…
