Page 53 - EW-June-2025

versities have seen presidential turnover -- three of them
under duress. Columbia, now on its third president in two
years, apparently had difficulty finding any takers for the
post that Eisenhower once held.
America’s top universities are at their most precarious
moment in living memory. The Trump administration has
accused them of being dens of affirmative action (now ille-
gal after a 2023 Supreme Court decision), antisemitism and
anti-American wokery. It has frozen billions of dollars in
federal grants in retaliation and demanded unprecedented
oversight and sweeping reforms if the spigot is to be turned
back on. Reactions have differed. Columbia capitulated to
the demands (but has yet to receive its funding), while Har-
vard University has sued the administration in a federal
court. But one Ivy League institution — Dartmouth College
in Hanover, New Hampshire — has so far avoided the wrath Dartmouth's Sian Beilock: boundary conditions
of the Trump administration.
Sian Beilock, president of Dartmouth, who has been in impingements on their academic freedom, but at the same
the job since September 2023 (one month before the Oc- time we can have self-reflection,” she says.
tober 7 Hamas attack on Israel which inflamed campuses), There are three theories for the inaction from admin-
attributes it to superior campus management of the cul- istration officials. First, they simply forgot. Second, that
ture wars. When a pro-Palestinian encampment appeared they will act, but haven’t yet. Third, that they have actu-
on campus the police were quickly called in. The university ally spared Dartmouth because of its pre-existing policies.
promulgated a policy of “institutional restraint”, prevent- Whatever the case, even delay is an advantage because it
ing editorialising by academic departments. Instead of safe forestalls a financial crunch and allows pioneers like Har-
spaces, Ms Beilock suggested “brave spaces” that avoided vard to map out legal defences that other institutions can
self-censorship. follow.
“Our goal is to be a place where students feel totally fine
expressing their views, but also making sure that there UNITED KINGDOM
are boundary conditions,” she says. “Your free expression Stricter admission scrutiny
doesn’t rob someone else of their free expression, which
means we don’t shout down speakers, and it means we don’t UK UNIVERSITIES MIGHT HAVE TO STOP
take over parts of our campus in an encampment and de- recruiting students from “riskier” countries un-
clare it for one ideology.” Savvy politicking is also helping. der new proposed visa compliance thresholds —
Ms Beilock has made four trips to Washington since Janu- with 20 percent of enrolments potentially under threat
ary. The university recently hired Matt Raymer, an alumnus — although some have welcomed the changes as a way of
and former chief counsel to the Republican National Com- weeding out “bad actors”. Currently, to sponsor visas for
mittee, as its general counsel. “We are all about American international students, higher ed institutions must achieve
competitiveness, whether you’re on the right or the left,” a visa refusal rate of less than 10 percent, course enrolment
says Ms Beilock. rate of at least 90 percent and course completion rate of at
This has not been without controversy on campus. Al- least 85 percent.
though Dartmouth has a reputation as the conservative Ivy But in a recent immigration White Paper, policymak-
— known for its snowy remoteness, rambunctious frater- ers propose raising minimum enrolment and completion
nities and cosy ties with the finance industry — progres- requirements five percent for each metric to tackle “visa
sivism remains a force. On April 28, a protester doused misuse”, including students obtaining visas with no inten-
an administration building in red paint, symbolising the tion of studying and growing numbers of asylum claims
blood of Gazans. “Institutional restraint is not neutrality,” from students.
the anonymous vandal told The Dartmouth, the campus Gary Davies, deputy vice chancellor at London Metro-
newspaper. “May future students know the fascist nature politan University, is wary of the new limits for visa refusals
of this institution.” in particular, arguing that universities have no control over
Less dramatically, several thousand alumni have signed a these decisions. “We will withdraw from any markets that
letter urging Ms Beilock to condemn the Trump administra- look even the slightest bit risky because we have already
tion for its attacks on its peers (she did not join a condemna- seen greater level of uncertainty in the behaviour of the
tory letter signed by 511 university presidents). “I was very entry clearance officers that do the visa interviews over the
clear that I support Harvard in fighting back against the last year,” he says.

JUNE 2025 EDUCATIONWORLD 53