Solemei Scamaroni | Harvard took a stand. Penn must do the same

The battle for academic freedom is here. Last week, the Trump administration sent Harvard University a series of policy demands aimed at controlling who the university could hire, admit, or be led by, and what could be said, taught, or explored. But Harvard did not give in to these demands. Its lawyers responded to the Trump administration on Monday, saying, “the University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.” Hours later, the Department of Education froze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university. Now, Donald Trump is threatening Harvard’s tax-exempt status, a status given to all institutions of higher education that act in the public interest. Despite the threats, Harvard took the first stand in defending academic autonomy. But the university can’t do it alone. Now, it’s up to Penn.

Already, $175 million of Penn’s federally contracted research has been frozen under the pretext of being a response to Penn allowing a transgender woman to compete on its women’s swimming and diving team. Penn has not yet faced the same direct demands as Harvard. But, they’re coming. As one senior Trump administration official told Fox News, “This is just a taste of what could be coming down the pipe for Penn.” When it comes, Penn must not obey, must not sell its values. Though Penn’s leadership has a financial responsibility to its students, esteemed professors, and groundbreaking research teams, above all, it has a responsibility to the core principles upon which Penn was built — the essence of what Penn is. 

Ben Franklin, an innovator and founding father of our Constitution, created Penn to be a pillar of light and learning. Our commitment to freedom of inquiry and relentless focus on pursuing societal good are the foundations of our mission as an institution. As such, we have a unique responsibility to defend those commitments, especially since it is our alumni — who strolled down Locust Walk and studied in Fisher Fine Arts Library like any other Penn student — that are leading the charge against higher education. Trump was educated here at Penn. And yet, the very institution that shaped him educates students to live by the values he opposes. We stroll down Locust, debating politics with friends after an invigorating talk at Perry World House. We study at Fisher Fine Arts Library, tackling complex scientific and historical questions for classes with boundary-pushing professors. At Penn, our values of intellectual freedom and critical analysis are very much alive. But what would Penn be if its students and professors were policed? If curiosity was replaced with conformity? If dissent was treated as danger? It wouldn’t be Penn anymore. 

The stakes are high because Penn is more than a school; it’s a multibillion-dollar, historic institution. If Penn doesn’t stand up for its own principles, who will? Why should students? Why should any American? Ben Franklin famously said that the Constitutional Convention birthed “a republic, if you can keep it.” To keep it, we must defy those who crusade against academia. History offers clear warnings. The Soviet Union controlled university curricula to align with Marxist ideology. The Nazis expelled dissenting students and purged “undesirable” faculty. Today, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has transferred control of the country’s universities to government-aligned foundations. Authoritarians consolidate power by suppressing opposition and constraining free thought. Eliminating independent decision-making within universities, a pillar of liberal society, is their first step. As Timothy Snyder put it in “On Tyranny,” “Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning.”

In this context, Penn’s leaders must defend our academic freedom and self-governance. The Trump administration’s threats to cut funding on the basis of ideological conditions are, as noted by former university presidents, including former Penn President Amy Gutmann, “illegal under Title VI [of] the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and unconstitutional under the First Amendment.” Penn must resist any unlawful demands that threaten our mission. Because even if we capitulate, as Columbia University did, more demands will follow. Our compliance will only invite further intrusion. Instead, if faced with funding cuts, university leaders must uphold their responsibility to educate students and drive innovation by providing financial support through the endowment. 

Penn is nearly 300 years old. It will survive the next four years. But it must do so in a way that ensures higher education doesn’t falter — in a way that allows the United States to keep its place in the world as a leader of democracy, knowledge, and progress. This is Penn’s moral obligation. “Leges sine moribus vanae”: Laws without morals are useless. Our motto is a warning. Without moral courage, even the strongest institutions crumble. Penn must rise to the occasion with the courage its founding demands.

SOLEMEI SCAMARONI is a College first year from Houston studying politics, philosophy, and economics. Her email is solemei@sas.upenn.edu.

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