With former U.S. President Donald Trump set to face Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s crucial U.S. Presidential Elections, we explore how the Republican Party’s MAGA agenda seeks to reshape universities and what this means for students.
Trump’s Changing Political Allegiance and its Impact on Higher Education
Long before his 2016 campaign for the Republican Party, Donald Trump was a Democrat. He donated to Democratic politicians in the 2000s, including his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and his new 2024 rival, Kamala Harris. During this era, he claimed to be a Democrat because the economy was in safer hands under their watch. A 2015 Forbes magazine article titled, “The Democrats: The Party of the Elite College Education” highlighted that the Democratic Party has appealed to, been funded by, and been run by graduates of elite U.S. universities, mostly from the Ivy League. Trump himself graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an elite Ivy League institution, much like many of his former Democratic colleagues. Trump even launched his own for-profit company, Trump University, in 2004 as a real estate training course, although it did not gain accreditation as an official university. Ostensibly, he holds personal regard for the value of a university education.
MAGA Rhetoric and the Conservative Stance on Universities
When Trump changed his political allegiance and decided to run for the Republican Party in 2016, he took the reins of a party with a large support base of white, non-college-educated Americans. In 2014, 54% of this demographic supported the Republican Party compared with only 34% who leaned towards the Democrats. Since then, he has resonated with this voter base by promoting anti-university rhetoric. In his crusade against what he views as ‘woke’ ideology from the left, he has positioned universities as Democrat-aligned institutions. Similar to his promise to ‘drain the swamp’ of bureaucrats in Washington D.C., he now seeks to alter the power structures and curriculum at elite colleges, which he perceives as having a strong left-wing bias. Trump and his fellow Republicans have frequently expressed mistrust of higher education—Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has called universities a ‘cesspool of Marxist indoctrination,’ while former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that ‘teachers unions and the filth they are teaching our kids’ will be the downfall of the U.S. Republic.
The Influence of J.D. Vance and the Future of Higher Education
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s newly appointed Vice-Presidential nominee, understands the issues of everyday Americans and their feelings about higher education. Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” describes his rise from the underprivileged area of Middletown, Ohio, one of the poorest, predominantly white districts in America. This part of the United States is defined by its history of coal mining and industry but is now considered ‘Left Behind America,’ plagued by poverty, opioid usage, and failing industry. In his memoir, Vance details his challenging upbringing and eventual success at Yale Law School, having graduated from Ohio State. However, in 2021, Vance turned on the very institutions that gave him a chance and called universities ‘the enemy.’ In 2022, Vance said that universities preach ‘deceit and lies.’ He has been more vocal than Trump about universities and has even stated that ‘we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities’ in the U.S. In a recent TIME magazine article titled, “Why Higher Ed Is Scared of a Second Trump Term,” Phillip Elliot quotes Trump, “The time has come to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical Left, and we will do that,” and continues, “Our secret weapon will be the college accreditation system.” The Republicans are seeking to replace what they see as a traditionally liberal discourse on college campuses with a more pro-American, patriotic, and conservative discourse. These plans for higher education are also outlined in the recently published “Mandate for Leadership,” more commonly known as Project 2025. Project 2025 is a policy agenda for Trump’s potential term as the 47th President of the United States, created by the conservative Washington D.C.-based think tank, The Heritage Foundation. The 922-page document reveals a host of proposed policies to be implemented on day one of Trump’s second presidency, including cutting federal funding and accreditation of universities that receive money from the CCP through the Chinese Confucius Institutes set up in universities globally, including at UCD.
Impact on Gender Studies and DEI Initiatives
As part of their opposition to what they refer to as ‘radical leftist brainwashing’ in universities, the Republican Party has sought to discredit any university or school teaching gender studies classes. In seven Republican states, Trump-supporting lawmakers are considering banning books that contain references to ‘profane language’ or ‘depictions of gender identity.’ At Belfield, the UCD School of Gender Studies teaches four modules in the BSc Social Science and Social Justice undergraduate degree, such as Exploring Gender, Masculinities, Gender, War and Violence, and Gender, Power and Politics. At the graduate level, the school offers 11 modules related to gender. One has to wonder how another Trump administration would affect the career and further education opportunities in the U.S. for graduates from these courses. Right-wing critics have dismissed these types of courses as pseudo-scientific, and many of the job roles that graduates from these courses pursue involve promoting DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) within corporations. DEI initiatives are already declining in large corporations due to intense criticism. According to consultancy firm Horton International, in 2021, 56% of organizations had leadership dedicated to DEI, but as of 2023, this had fallen to 41%. Trump has demanded universities purge DEI administrators.
Turning Point USA and the Conservative Student Movement
The Republican Party’s sentiments about universities are echoed by the right-wing, pro-Trump political action group, Turning Point USA, established by political activist and talk show host Charlie Kirk, which has established chapters across more than 3,500 college campuses in the U.S. Ironically, while spearheading a national student conservatism organization, Kirk himself regularly discredits the value of university education, calling it a scam. He published the book “The College Scam: How America’s Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America’s Youth.” In the book, he writes that ‘we all know colleges are filled with far-left professors’ and that in university ‘brainwashing is the norm.’ He states that academia ‘has lost all credibility’ due to ‘woke’ ideals influencing the views of students. During the intro of each of Charlie Kirk’s podcasts on Spotify, there is a clip of Donald Trump endorsing Charlie—‘I want to thank Charlie, he’s an incredible guy, his spirit, his love of this country, he has done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.’
Future Implications for Universities and Students
A Republican win in November will have a major impact on universities in the U.S. and consequently affect students and graduates here at UCD looking to work or study in the United States post-graduation. We are yet to see whether the Republicans will be successful in their efforts against what they perceive as ‘woke,’ ‘leftist’ ideology on campus, but the outcome will undoubtedly shape the academic and professional landscape for years to come. The potential changes could influence everything from curriculum content and funding to campus policies and the overall campus environment. As students and future graduates, it is crucial to stay informed about these developments and consider their implications for your educational and career aspirations.
By Eoin Gilligan
