Fulbright, one of the most established international academic exchange programs in the US, is facing perhaps the biggest crisis in its history. Fulbright’s 12-person independent advisory board resigned last week in response to the Trump administration’s attempts to increase its political influence over the program. This resignation is not only a protest, but also a serious alarm in terms of academic freedom and international cooperation. (https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000273653/fulbright-vorstand-tritt-aus-protest-gegen-us-regierung-zur252ck https://www.twincities.com/2025/06/11/trump-fulbright/)

The board members announced that the Trump administration canceled the scholarship applications of around 200 American academics and put the applications of around 1,200 foreign researchers into a “preliminary review” process with uncertain legal basis. The academics in question were researching areas such as climate change, gender, immigration and race. This raised concerns that the administration was directly interfering with academic content.

The board found these interventions to be contrary to the fundamental spirit of the Fulbright program – the principles of international understanding and free inquiry. The resignation letters particularly emphasized: “Fulbright should serve academic integrity, not political propaganda.”

The Fulbright program has supported more than 400,000 researchers to date, including Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners. However, it has recently been under pressure not only through content control but also through budget cuts. Bills aiming to reduce the program’s annual budget from $691 million to $50 million have sparked major debates in Congress.

These developments in the US are concerning not only at the national level but also in terms of global academic collaborations. The freezing of billions of dollars in funds at universities such as Harvard, Cornell and Northwestern shows that the tension between academia and politics has reached a new threshold. In a sense, this means that higher education in the US is being “forced to localize.”

In the face of all these developments, we are reminded once again of the fact that “character is revealed under pressure.” In order for academia to defend itself, it needs not only ethical principles, but also transparent and collective resistance.

The international academic community should not remain silent in the face of such crises. Otherwise, not only scholarships but also the global circulation of free thought will be under serious threat.