The American university system has been at the center of our country’s intellectual innovation and technological and financial prosperity over the past century. The reason for that success is the academic freedom that has been rigorously maintained in higher education, despite changes in the country’s political winds.
But with the reelection of Donald Trump, academic freedom, freedom of thought and freedom of expression on college campuses are under threat. He has vowed to root out “Marxist maniacs” from colleges by using the accreditation process as his “secret weapon.” He has vowed to punish students who protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
In Idaho, we’ve already seen how this can play out. The mixture of political extremism, corruption and incompetence on the board of North Idaho College provides a preview of what could be coming. It was such a mess that even in one of the most conservative parts of Idaho, this year voters gave the board the boot.
Imagine that corrupt mess playing out at all of Idaho’s colleges and universities, and you’ll have some idea of what could be coming. Because the vision Trump has outlined for universities is to become instruments of state ideology.
One of the standards Trump has outlined is that universities will have to defend “the American tradition and Western civilization.” That sounds good. What could be wrong with American values?
But when words like that come from the mouth of the government, it’s best to be wary.
Take the Korean concept of “Juche,” which translates as “self-reliance.” Self-reliance is something that everyone would want to cultivate in young people. But in North Korea, Juche means the official state ideology — the ideology everyone has to adopt or fear punishment.
All authoritarian governments have some kind of newspeak like this.
This wide-ranging attack on intellectual freedom has been building steam throughout the country for years now. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis effectively dismantled one public university to impose ideological censorship. There have been major efforts around the country to ban access to books that include LGBTQ+ characters.
This is clearly an effort at censorship, not an act to protect children. The way you can tell is to see that attempts to limit children’s access to actual pornography have been blocked by the same people pushing for book bans. Sen. Kevin Cook’s bill to enable pornography filters on cell phones sold to children was opposed by most far-right senators last year, and the House refused to give it a hearing.
There have been escalating political efforts to ban measures to make Idaho universities more hospitable to minority students.
In the face of all this, it’s more important than ever that universities fight to maintain autonomy and independence from political control.
The intellectuals in the “make America great again” movement are largely following the lead of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán — even inviting him to give lectures. Vice President-elect JD Vance is a particular fan.
Orban has led his country into authoritarianism justified by attacks on many of the same official enemies as MAGA: academia, immigrants, gay people and the press. At the same time, he has led his country into unprecedented levels of corruption.
Idaho’s university administrators, professors and students should be ready for the coming assault. Draw red lines now that you will not cross when government pressure is brought to bear. Stick to those red lines, even if the consequences are significant. That’s the only way our higher education system will maintain its status as a center for real inquiry, learning and innovation, rather than becoming a mouthpiece for an increasingly authoritarian government.
Bryan Clark is a columnist for the Idaho Statesman. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
