Mass. college presidents lead pushback as over 100 leaders call out Trump’s ‘overreach’ (2025)

Several Massachusetts college presidents are calling for “one voice” in higher education against “government overreach and political interference,” according to a Tuesday letter signed by over a hundred higher education leaders.

In an environment where presidents have feared speaking up against the Trump administration, the letter is the first time current presidents have come together in large numbers to express their concerns publicly.

• Update: ‘An attack on all of us’: Nearly 200 college presidents challenge Trump

“American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how and by whom. Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation,” the letter, signed by the presidents, reads.

• Read more: Is Harvard’s resistance to Trump igniting a broader movement across higher ed?

The Massachusetts college and university presidents who signed the letter, entitled “A Call for Constructive Engagement,” include:

• Michael A. Elliott, Amherst College
• Alan M. Garber, Harvard University
• Sally Kornbluth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Sunil Kumar, Tufts University
• Harry Dumay, Elms College
• David Fithian, Clark University
• Melissa Gilliam, Boston University
• Paula A. Johnson, Wellesley College
• Maud S. Mandel, Williams College
• Vincent Rougeau, College of the Holy Cross
• Philip J. Sisson, Middlesex Community College
• James Vander Hooven, Mount Wachusett Community College
• Sarah Willie-LeBreton, Smith College
• Michaele Whelan, Wheaton College

Massachusetts college presidents who signed the letter weren’t immediately available for requests for comment.

The letter, released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, comes after Harvard refused to comply with a list of demands from the federal government and, as a result, the Trump administration froze billions of dollars in federal funding and is threatening to withdraw Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

The demands include allowing the federal government to audit student, professor and staff viewpoints, sharing all hiring data with the government, which would be subjected to an audit and giving leadership power to those “most devoted” to enacting the demanded changes, and stripping it away from those who aren’t.

On Monday, Harvard sued the federal government, arguing its constitutional rights have been violated.

“There’s an increase in momentum and I think Harvard standing up to the Trump administration has catalyzed these efforts,” said Lynn Pasquerella, the former president of Mount Holyoke College who now serves as president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

The Trump administration has also frozen federal funding at most other Ivy League schools and Northwestern University, signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, canceled research grants and began investigations into many universities and colleges across the country.

Thus far, faculty senates have led the way in publicly speaking out against the Trump administration.

Several of the Big Ten schools decided to band together in “mutual defense.” The University of Massachusetts Amherst is doing something similar.

While the Tuesday letter signed by the presidents said they are “open to constructive reforms and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” they oppose government intrusion on campuses.

“We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding,” the letter reads.

The letter is open to additional signatures. The group of presidents convened Monday evening to determine the most effective way to maintain the momentum from the letter and what the next paths forward are, Pasquerella said.

" The fundamental purpose of American higher education is for the public good. We’re not here to serve individual students or ourselves, but society as a whole and to engage them in answering the question, ‘What can we do for you?’ So the collective voice comes from, then, looking at the many ways in which we can carry this work forward and change the narrative positively," Pasquerella said.