Hanover’s Dartmouth College has joined a growing list of high-profile institutions of higher education to reject President Donald Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” according to NHPR.
Trump’s compact constitutes an effort to exert an undue level of control over some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the nation. Premier among his intended changes to the way these institutions operate are attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) through the redefinition of gender and international student admission restrictions.
I am cautious about getting caught up in discussions of prestige. I do not take issue with this compact on the basis of governmental overreach; as a public college student, the sanctity and distinction of private education is no personal concern of mine.
However, it is undeniable these policies from the Trump administration are unacceptable in how they target the most vulnerable student populations in the U.S.
The issue here, as has occurred with many other issues during the current term, is the unilateral decision-making and concentration of power that Trump is putting his weight behind. For a president who has attempted to completely dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, he seems very eager to exert executive control over the biggest vendors of post-secondary education in the country.
He is then pushing his fascist agenda into all the most vulnerable areas of public life. Education is one of the most pivotal forces in modern society, and despite all of its imperfections, the increase in accessibility DEI provided over the past twenty or so years is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of American democracy. Without access to education, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, immigrants and those who live combinations of all of these experiences become continuously easier to subjugate and exploit.
I also commend the Dartmouth faculty and students who petitioned Beilock to commit to this rejection. It has never been made clearer than it is in such troubling times: Those who live and work as part of college communities on the whole understand the value of diversity on their campuses.
The truth remains as it has with all the DEI-related issues we have seen hit New Hampshire education recently. If executive power can revoke the right to education from those who are already treated as second-class citizens on a whim, I see nothing that would stop them from taking an even larger step and revoking all access to higher education.
Coming from a public college like Keene State and witnessing the situation Dartmouth has found itself in, it appears clear Republicans are staging a multi-pronged attack against the very idea of an educated American populace. Educators and students from all backgrounds will need each other’s support to defend the line.
Now more than ever, it is crucial for us to stick together and demonstrate to the powers that be that education is not up for grabs. It is a right that must be enjoyed by all or none; I know which of the two I am rooting for.
Charlotte King can be contacted at
cking@kscequinox.com
