Pa College Leaders Challenge Federal Overreach, Defend Academic Freedom
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Asia Tabb
Aired; May 7th, 2025.
Listen to the podcast to hear the full conversation.
This week, Dickinson College President John Jones and Susquehanna University President Jonathan Green joined more than 300 higher-education leaders in publicly condemning what they described as “unprecedented government overreach and political interference endangering American education and public research funding.” In a statement circulated nationally, the signers affirmed their commitment to campuses as “centers of open inquiry where, in the pursuit of truth, faculty and students … are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, and deportation.”
When asked why he added his name to the letter, President Jones pointed to recent federal actions he views as threatening the longstanding principle of academic freedom.
“I think that fairly there is what I would characterize as a troubling and rather unprecedented assault on higher education from a number of different quarters, most notably from the government,” he said, emphasizing that “the concept of academic freedom…flows from the First Amendment …and is essential to the operation of a good institution of higher learning today.”
Jones warned that the current climate risks imposing “thought control and message control” on colleges and universities, undermining their historic role as incubators of free thought and debate.
President Green echoed those concerns, framing American higher education as a crucial safeguard for democratic discourse.
“In many ways, the higher education system in the United States has really been… the bulwark of democracy,” Green observed, noting that college campuses are “the most open marketplace of ideas in our nation.”
He added that threats to funding—and even the specter of deportation—are already chilling essential conversations, especially on contentious topics like the Israel–Gaza conflict:
“If we can’t deeply explore all of the perspectives of that conflict, we’re never going to be able to find the solutions to it.”
Beyond federal pressure, the presidents acknowledged ongoing campus challenges—ranging from threats of anti-Semitism to concerns about campus safety and free speech. Still, they warned against using isolated incidents as justification for sweeping federal intervention:
“To use those activities, which are not universal…and use them as a pretext to delve into things like the curriculum…is a dangerous path,” said Jones.
Green pointed to recent polling showing that “between 75 and 85 percent of both liberal and conservative students say their colleges … provide a good environment for them to speak their opinions,” countering media narratives that campuses have become echo chambers.
As a next step, both leaders urged the Department of Education—and the White House more broadly—to engage directly with college communities:
“I would really welcome the opportunity for members of the administration to spend a day on my campus, engage with our students, find out the kind of work that they’re doing,” Green proposed.
Jones added a plea for honest dialogue: “I think I’d say to them, stop misrepresenting the state of higher education in the United States. You know better.
