During an interview with CBS News on Monday, President of the American Association of University Professors Todd Wolfson said the Trump administration demanding control over “what was taught around Middle Eastern Studies, around how we admit students” at Columbia University “means that Big Brother is in our classroom.” And the administration is trying “to politically intrude on an autonomous institution. It really undermines the democratic principles of this country.”
Wolfson said, “We need our students in classrooms, learning. We need them doing critical thinking. We don’t need them feeling like they’re being watched by Big Brother, which is what’s going on here. Again, the Columbia demand from the Trump administration was that they wanted to have control over what was taught around Middle Eastern Studies, around how we admit students. That means that Big Brother is in our classroom. Nobody voted for that and nobody wants that.”
He added that the Trump administration is “trying to bully our institutions and tell them the rules. And so, important institutions like tenure are being undermined, and academic freedom, are being undermined by the Trump administration and their attempts to politically intrude on an autonomous institution. It really undermines the democratic principles of this country.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
