An open letter signed by over 600 Penn faculty members calling on Penn President Larry Jameson to take a stand against the Trump administration was delivered to College Hall on April 22.
The letter urged Jameson to resist the federal government’s attacks on American colleges and universities. It included numerous demands, including a request for Penn to stand publicly with other universities against “unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom,” to take legal action to restore lost funding, and to “protect international scholars who are targeted for removal under dubious pretenses.”
Penn faculty delivered the letter as universities across the country, including other Ivy League institutions, have taken public stances against action from the Trump administration.
“The assaults on American universities threaten bedrock principles not only of our university but of democracy itself, including freedom of thought, expression and association,” the letter stated.
Penn Hepburn Professor of Physics and Astronomy Andrea Liu — who authored the letter — has been at Penn for over two decades and described herself as “very committed to Penn” in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian. She added that part of her job as a faculty member is to “ask Penn to live up to its ideals and to step up when it needs to step up.”
“[We need] to stand up and say publicly, the federal government has no right to interfere in how a university is operating,” Liu said. “There’s very strong support for this among the faculty.”
Liu pointed to Penn’s “principles of academic freedom,” governance structure, and admissions as matters “up to the University” without any need for guidance from the federal government.
In March, $175 million of Penn’s federal funding was frozen by the Trump administration. The decision, according to the White House, was due to Penn’s “policies forcing women to compete with men in sports.”
In February, $240 million of Penn’s funding from the National Institutes of Health was also jeopardized after the NIH issued a directive capping “indirect costs” — which fund overhead expenses like laboratories and support staff — at 15%. In response, Penn joined 12 other universities in filing a lawsuit to pause the decision.
In addition to the demands listed in the letter, Liu said that the University “could be covering legal expenses” for international students and scholars who are affected by the visa revocations. She mentioned the financial burden for some students who may have “paid rent already” but now are being forced “to leave the country.”
“These are all things that the University could do to have their backs,” Liu said. “I haven’t heard of the University doing any of these things.”
She also highlighted that Penn’s lack of financial and legal support for international students raises “serious questions about whether legal process is being followed.”
“I would hope the University would … protect the students and scholars who work here,” Liu said. “We benefit enormously from our international students and scholars.”
On April 7, International Student and Scholar Services informed international students that the federal government had revoked visas and terminated immigration statuses for “at least three” Penn students.
Currently, eight Penn affiliates have been affected by ongoing visa revocations and immigration status terminations at the hands of the Trump administration. Of the eight total affiliates, seven had their SEVIS status terminated, including one undergraduate student, five graduate students, and one alumnus on a sponsored visa. One additional Penn affiliate had their visa revoked.
The open letter concluded with a quote from Penn founder Benjamin Franklin.
“We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately,” the letter read. “Now is the time to act together with other universities, before it is too late.”
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