US academics fear further attacks in 2026 after ‘horrendous year’

The coming year is likely to bring further chaos for US universities after a “devastating” 12 months under Donald Trump’s second presidency, experts have warned, with some calling on institutions to do more to resist assaults on academic freedom. 

During 2025, the president cut billions of dollars in federal research funding, began the process of shutting down the Department for Education, and divided the sector by pursuing individual financial deals with institutions.  

“Unless you are in charge of a conservative college aiming your offering at white, right-leaning students, this has been a horrendous year for US higher education,” said Mark Shanahan, associate professor of political engagement at the University of Surrey.

“The administration has sought to impose a Christian-conservative nationalist agenda on the sector more akin to Germany in the 1930s than to a modern research and teaching powerhouse.

“At the end of 2025, the sector feels far less welcoming both to international students and scholars and anyone who doesn’t fit into a pretty narrowly defined heteronormative grouping.”

Shanahan said he expects to see further attacks on internationalisation in 2026, with the damage potentially taking decades to reverse. 

Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, said the White House “went to war” with a group of elite institutions during the past 12 months, often using the charge of antisemitism to threaten, badger and extort large settlement payments from universities.  

“2025 was a devastating year for American higher education,” she told Times Higher Education.

“America’s colleges and universities suddenly found themselves on the point of a dagger wielded by a political administration with no respect for academic freedom or institutional autonomy.”

The administration was joined in these efforts by state governments, some of which targeted diversity, equity and inclusion practices, and tightened control over course syllabi.

“As the year ended, with higher education exhausted from struggling to stay afloat in the political tsunami, mass shootings at Brown University and Kentucky State University were appalling reminders of the dangers that still lurk well beyond politics,” added McGuire.

Frederick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank, said Trump’s reliance on reversible executive actions and Democratic success in the December midterms could affect the durability of the policy shift.

He said 2026 will see the administration try to move boldly on accreditation, to work with some institutions on elements of its Compact, seek to move Federal Student Aid to another agency, and continue its aggressive efforts to roll back civil rights enforcement.

Despite the downbeat mood, Hess said many campus leaders privately concede that their institutions have allowed ideological groupthink to “compromise free inquiry and robust discourse”.

“While campus leaders don’t think much of Trump and have grave problems with the administration’s heavy-handed approach, many quietly welcome the opportunity to reset campus norms and culture.”

Andrew Moran, professor of politics and international relations at London Metropolitan University, said universities will be worried over the Christmas break because they know the attacks are not going to stop.

“The Trump administration is still going to continue its approach that it’s adopted to universities this year, and I think it’s a case of holding your breath and waiting for what comes next.”

The one potential positive of the current situation is that Trump could succeed in making US higher education less expensive, he added.

The Department for Education recently claimed it was “rightsizing” higher education, taking steps to make college more affordable and “restoring merit” in the sector.

“These are reforms that conservatives have championed for decades – and in just one year, we’ve made them a reality,” the body said.

McGuire said 2026 is unlikely to bring much relief and warned that the consequences to the rest of society from a weakened sector are clear.

“Until American higher education collectively finds its voice in resistance to the takeover, the Trump regime will continue its corrosive attack to debilitate the intellectual and academic freedom that are essential to confront the rise of authoritarianism.”

At the end of a “chaotic” year, Dafydd Townley, a teaching fellow at the University of Portsmouth, said academics have been left “demoralised” but are hopeful that these aberrations will be rectified towards the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, as the UK’s universities struggle with financial challenges, he warned what a Trump-style administration in Westminster could do to the country’s higher education sector.

“I do look across at the US and I do worry that this could be coming our way in a couple of years’ time. You do worry that this is a blueprint for what’s coming.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com