Former Penn President Amy Gutmann joined a group of past and present university presidents in a joint statement calling on the Trump administration to end “destructive attacks on colleges and universities."
The joint statement responds to the Trump administration’s threats to withdraw federal funding from universities, actions the group claims bypass due process and violate both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment. It goes on to call on the Trump administration to engage in a constructive dialogue with board trustees and presidents over university governance and educational guidelines.
The University signatories emphasized that universities must resist partisan pressures and ideological conformity, reaffirming that higher education’s core mission transcends politics. They highlighted the important role of academic institutions as engines of innovation, creativity, and economic growth, “contributing exponentially more than their costs.”
“I feel duty-bound to speak out against arbitrary assaults on the fundamental freedom and the mission of our nation’s colleges and universities, long recognized as among the best in the world,” Gutmann said in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “The pursuit of knowledge, creativity, and innovation has been productively supported for decades by our government on a nonpartisan basis.”
Gutmann and fellow university leaders also highlighted higher education’s unique impact on the nation’s economic vitality, technological leadership, cultural foundation, health care systems, and community well-being, citing examples like the biotech sector’s $3 trillion annual contribution to the U.S. GDP, the more than $5 trillion in annual investments to AI and other emerging technologies, the $7 trillion in digital transactions that occur each year, and $45 billion generated annually from international student tuition.
Collectively, these industries account for nearly half of the U.S. GDP, drive most of its annual economic growth, and represent double the federal government’s total spending. Beyond economics, Gutmann and other leaders argued that these institutions extend life expectancy, expand access to opportunity, and educate millions of highly skilled professionals.
“The academic freedom at the core of our universities has fueled prosperity, health, safety, freedom, and security for our nation and for hundreds of millions of people," Gutmann said to The DP. "I am one among the hundreds of millions of beneficiaries of American higher education."
They specifically called on boards of trustees to stand firm in defending institutional autonomy, encouraging them to resist and legally challenge unlawful political interference, safeguard academic self-governance, and protect research units and scholars under threat. To the American public, the signatories encouraged active participation in community discussions and a collective pursuit of solutions to the pressing issues confronting their alma maters and local educational institutions.
At Penn, the college administration has revised longstanding University policies and initiated a series of modifications to DEI initiatives and programs to ensure compliance with federal government guidance and executive orders.
This resulted in the removal of all references to diversity and affirmative action from Penn’s nondiscrimination and equal opportunity policies. Most recently, the federal government has revoked “at least three” Penn students’ visas and terminated their immigration statuses, leaving the Penn community in a state of uncertainty.
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