Roles of Faculty Amidst Escalating Federal Threats

Creating Spaces of Resistance, Hope, and Resilience in Higher Education

Gabriela Rupp, Class of 2026

Published Spring 2025

Note: Content included in this resource is entirely my own and does not claim to be ideologically representative of the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning or American University as an institution. Similarly, faculty quotes represent anonymous personal contributions and not endorsed statements by any related units.

Project Purpose

This semester, I set out to uplift the role of university faculty in responding to the new federal administration, recent attacks on higher education, and personal and professional threats. Through this project, I seek to shed light on the diverse experiences of faculty and reflect on common themes emerging across department and disciplinary lines. Unlike my previous work with CTRL, this project is primarily focused on amplifying real-time faculty experiences and finding applicable lessons in their existing critical work, rather than making recommendations to change or improve what they are already doing.

As an Education and Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies student studying and working in fields actively threatened by the present federal administration, I have found my coursework, much of which focuses on understanding and critiquing systems of oppression, to be a vital space of empowerment, hope, and community resistance in recent months. Interactions with faculty have demonstrated the continuing possibility of critical work and repeatedly reminded me of the available blueprints of liberatory resistance across time and place. In a political moment where self-interested actors seek to consolidate power in the hands of the very few, limit access to critical education, distract and overwhelm citizens, and stoke fear and intimidation to compel complacency, those of us committed to making more just futures possible certainly have our work cut out for us. In truly dangerous times like these, I find it all the more essential to uplift, protect, and sustain one another’s work and wellbeing. Through this project, I hope to do just that.

Methods and Lessons from Project Evolution

My work on this project began the very day after Donald Trump’s second inauguration and has evolved alongside the rapidly changing political landscape. At its conception, the project aimed to conclude with a faculty panel, creating a public and collaborative space for faculty to share their resistance work and methods for supporting one another and students. As the semester progressed and the federal administration’s planned attacks continued to unfold, it became clear a public event would be impossible due to rapidly escalating tensions and anxieties among faculty over personal safety and employment security, and that any element of public naming or identification of participating faculty would be both reckless and a barrier to participation. As a result, all faculty contributions below remain unnamed. While disappointing, this evolution has in many ways itself been a clear answer to the central question of the project: how are faculty experiencing and responding to recent actions from the new federal administration? Content of faculty responses aside, observing the patterns of engagement with this work clearly demonstrates to me that many university faculty are grappling daily with the tensions between well-founded fears, self-preservation instincts, and moral and intellectual imperatives to openly resist attacks on their communities, students, and work. They are carefully negotiating risk along lines of privilege, identity, institutional security, and concern for family. For many, these tensions limit the possibility of in-person, publicly named, or university-sanctioned resistance work. However, in every faculty member I engaged with during this process, I found evidence of creative and community driven models of care and resistance.

Summary of Threats to Higher Education in Early 2025

The American higher education system, and those working and studying within it, have experienced an unprecedented level of threat, policy change, and chaos due to federal actions in recent months. Students, scholars, and faculty at institutions nationwide have faced threats of deportation and revocation of legal status, often becoming targets of the federal administration due to prior engagement in protected speech. Just down the road from American University, Georgetown University post-doctoral scholar and professor Badar Khan Suri was taken into custody by masked DHS agents while returning from Iftar during Ramadan. Similarly, Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University and Rümeysa Öztürk at Tufts University have been detained under similar conditions, with all three individuals being held multiple states away in Louisiana. These cases have gained significant media attention and garnered public outrage; meanwhile, many more quietly grapple with uncertain futures. 1,300 students and counting have had legal residency status taken from them, and this is likely a significant underrepresentation. At another one of AU’s neighboring institutions, the University of Maryland president, Daryll Pines, received a letter demanding that the university share information about past and present Chinese students. The impacts of ramped-up federal and institutional surveillance efforts in higher education are widespread and disproportionately felt.

Another key point of impact in higher education right now comes as the result of the federal administration’s crusade against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, bringing everything from research grants to university housing policies to student affinity groups and beyond under scrutiny. Institutional responses have varied, with high-profile examples including the University of Michigan’s choice to shut down its DEI office, Harvard’s public rejection of the federal administration’s demands, and Columbia’s promises of significant concessions upon receiving a similar list of federal demands. This invented crisis has resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in federal education and research funding, and is likely just the beginning, as the administration moves on from this first round of high-profile institutions.

Among these many threats, we are also seeing attempted rollbacks on labor organizing rights, harmful and exclusionary revisions to Title IX guidance, unjust limits on free expression and student organizing, uncertainty around the future of federal student loans and grants, cuts to teacher preparation programs, and so much more. Students and faculty are increasingly caught in the crosshairs of these federal disputes, particularly at institutions whose operations heavily rely on federal dollars, with individuals at all levels facing loss of funding, rescinded admissions or employment offers, and increasingly tense work and school environments, not to mention the personal stress and upheaval brought on by these daily threats. If the mission of this administration is to distract, divide, and dilute, the widespread and daily attacks on higher education have been a masterclass in exactly that. These many attacks should be alarming to those invested in the democratic future of America, but they are also, unfortunately, recognizable as one of the most basic tools of fascism: the cultivation of an uneducated public. The scale and speed of the new administration’s threats to higher education are cause for significant concern and represent an extension of the executive’s testing of protective boundaries to centralized power. In the weeks and years ahead, the future of academic freedom and the safety and well-being of marginalized students and faculty will rely largely on outright resistance from higher education institutions and the continued mobilization of concerned individuals and organizations working within them.

Faculty Responses

Faculty expressed a range of emotional reflections and practical contributions, coming together to tell a powerfully urgent story of creative resistance work being done within institutions of higher education. In synthesizing the survey responses provided by faculty, I have organized them into five thematic categories below.

The following includes direct quotes from American University faculty working across five departments, at various appointment statuses, and with various student populations. Contributing faculty’s names and identifying information have been redacted for personal safety.

Impacts of Federal Actions on Staff and Faculty

Faculty expressed intense personal and professional anxieties due to a variety of federal and institutional actions. They emphasized the critical need for community building, sustaining and growing networks of support, and for institutions to act to protect faculty from forthcoming attacks and censorship.

  • “Many of my co-workers have been thrown into a panic by these changes.”
  • “Attacks on DEI, transgender and non-binary people, and immigrants mean that literally all of our work in (redacted department) is now declared illegal or dangerous. At best, the value of our teaching, research, and community work is denigrated. At worst, many of my colleagues fear for their livelihood and personal safety, as well as that of their families.”
  • “There is an overall sense of fear, anxiety, and dread, and it’s like we’re in constant disbelief… Coworkers who are trans and queer question when and where they can be their authentic selves. Coworkers who are actively protesting the genocide in Gaza fear that they will be penalized for expressing their views…”
  • “Cuts to federal jobs, cuts to education, cuts to research funding, removal of sustainable practices, removal of policies that protect our most marginalized …these all undermine the value and purpose of higher education. At the same time, we’re also much more fired up about the work that we do because it matters more than ever!”
  • “We feel scared, surveilled, and boxed in.”
  • “Many faculty are rightfully concerned about the threat to their employment constituted by attacks on the federal Department of Education and the erosion of institutional support for free speech.”
  • “My colleagues and I will keep doing work that is meaningful and that helps facilitate social change, rather than complying with executive orders out of cowardice. But doing the right thing puts a target on our backs.”

Observed Impacts of Federal Actions on Student Populations

Faculty recognized a massive depth and breadth of experiences shared and observed in students they teach and work closely with, using descriptions of intense emotional upheaval. They specifically highlighted the fears and complex experiences of marginalized students, recognizing the personal and academic impacts of the turbulent political landscape.

  • “Students are noticeably disconcerted, anxious, and upset about recent federal actions.”
  • “Students have shared anxieties for their undocumented loved ones; themselves and their communities as Trans, immigrant, BIPOC, and queer people; for their career prospects in fields including civil service, foreign aid, education, and the arts; for their access to health care (especially reproductive and gender-affirming care); and for the democratic and climate future of the US and world.”
  • “Many students are living in a state of constant panic and fear.”
  • “I know that students are also scared, angry, and anxious, and that greatly impacts their ability to focus and stay motivated to complete their degrees. I have a constant fear and worry for my students and how they are being impacted or how they are processing all of this painful, hateful, depressing information. When we’re all drained just from surviving and defending our humanity, and we’re living in this state of constant anxiety, we can’t focus. Things can start to feel irrelevant or unnecessary.”
  • “My students are demoralized and exhausted.”
  • “Students are seeing through the empty rhetoric of administrators that we’re all one big community and that equity and free speech are central to the university’s mission. They recognize that they’re paying enormous amounts of money to a corporation that holds no regard for their well-being, let alone their learning and growth.”

Using Faculty Positions and Relationships to Build Networks of Resistance

Many faculty responses highlighted methods they have adopted within their existing roles as professors, colleagues, and researchers to adapt their work to the present political landscape. They shared the pedagogical strategies and peer support tactics they are implementing to meet the moment and develop strategies for sustaining their work amid the dominant politics of distraction.

  • “My classes focus on topics that have been weaponized by the current administration, including gender and sexuality; race; immigration; and histories of colonialism, pro-natalist, and white supremacy. I have therefore sought both to give space for students immediately following the inauguration to discuss their thoughts and feelings, and to draw connections between our material and current events.”
  • “I seek to be mindful of distinguishing between the current administration and political conservatism more generally; I did not speak directly about party politics prior to Trump’s first election, but after arriving to a class full of weeping and frightened students in November 2016, now feel it would be a dereliction of my duty as an educator committed to social justice not to address racist, anti-democratic, Trans- and queer phobic, and sexist policies and public speech.”
  • “Every day, I invest a great deal of time and energy listening to those around me, providing them a place to express their emotions, strategizing with them on how to resist these changes along with others, and discussing the lessons which history offers us about surviving during times of reactionary backlash and entrenchment.”
  • “I intentionally offer ways to continue to generate joy and create beauty, connection, restorative practices, and hope for everyone with whom I interact.”
  • “I have worked hard to employ equitable, trauma-informed teaching practices that demonstrate compassion and understanding… I also have made sure to acknowledge what’s happening, but without overwhelming students with constant discussions about all of the horrible things that are going on.”
  • “I make space for us to unpack the nuance and make sense of what they might be seeing on social media. I honor their intelligence and experiences. I also am trying to learn about how I can use my power and privilege to protect others.”
  • “I think part of addressing stress and despair is also making space for joy, humor, and positivity. Not ignoring reality, but reminding people that it’s okay to be happy, and it’s necessary!”
  • “What the oppressor wants is for us to spend all of our time angry and frustrated. Joy and self-preservation are part of the resistance! Modeling that for students and colleagues, and reminding them that it’s okay to rest, or helping take over when someone needs a break.”
  • “I’ve brought these topics to my classes and explored how students feel and what strategies are available to us to push back.”

Supporting Student Organizers

Faculty respondents emphasized the importance of faculty in supporting, mentoring, and defending student organizers agitating for change on and off campus, especially given recent threatening actions by the federal government to intimidate, arrest, and detain student organizers, and the recent institutional policies limiting free expression on campus.

  • “I believe that faculty with greater institutional protection (including tenure and seniority) need to support and advocate for student organizers amidst the erosion of free speech, especially in relation to Israel/Palestine.”
  • “This is a crucial time for faculty members to stand with student organizers. Especially those of us who are tenured and therefore less vulnerable in our careers are called to step forward to protect our students, mentor them, and support them in their work.”
  • “Is it not part of our curriculum and institutional values to create ‘change makers’ who can engage in ‘dialogue across difference’ and uphold our democracy? It’s our job to teach students how to advocate and engage in activism in a way that’s safe and productive. Critical thinking, civic engagement, arguing for a just society… these are all key elements of higher education, and it’s our duty to support that.”
  • “Those with the status and security to speak out must do so to protect freedom of expression and the right to assembly.”

Leveraging Institutional Privilege to Disrupt Patterns of Harm in Higher Education

While institution-specific critiques were made, many faculty also recognized the relative privilege of working at a private liberal arts institution that publicly claims values of inclusive excellence and changemaking. Faculty reflect on how to leverage their institutional status to resist national patterns (i.e., the forced closure of campus DEI offices) that may be more immediately impacting faculty working in other regions or institutional models.

  • “Faculty have to engage in a coalitional approach with staff and students to ensure change actually happens.”
  • “I believe that more institutionally secure faculty should be working with unions and contingent employees to strengthen employment protections; integrating DEI material more thoroughly and strategically into their curricula; and being as available as feasible for student conversation and support, all of which both creates intellectual and political community, and improves the intellectual climate and erosion of student retention that further threaten AU and other schools.”
  • “We can write public pieces, continue our research in scholarly venues, use our connections with media outlets, as well as local, national, and international social justice networks to call out the harm and join with others to reject it.”
  • “Finding ways to creatively ‘do the work’ anyways… not preemptively censoring, shutting down, or backing off… not moving based on fear, but based on values and principles. Recognizing in what spaces and positions you have more power and privilege, and doing work there.”
  • “Faculty hold tremendous power within the university system; they can attend student actions, co-organize, endorse advocacy projects, and mobilize their faculty peers in solidarity.”

The Work Ahead: Sustaining Resistance, Building Community

In mapping the path forward, those interested in resisting federal attacks on higher education must simultaneously resist repressive and divisive policy from its source and agitate for transparency and, when necessary, noncompliance at the institutional level. Here at American University, many faculty and students are engaged in this complex work. In the spring 2025 semester, student-led actions have included a student coalition organized “Hands Off our Schools” rally at the Department of Education, a campus “Day Without Immigrants” rally, and a demonstration calling for the release of Georgetown University professor Badar Khan Suri. In addition to the interpersonal and classroom level work highlighted in the survey responses above, faculty have organized various modes of resistance. AU’s Journalism Department unanimously approved an open letter to its students, denouncing federal attacks on the free press. Faculty and staff have organized demonstrations, teach-ins, and coalitional actions with student groups to call for action from AU administration in taking steps to protect students and faculty from federal threats. Faculty, staff, and students signed an open letter to AU administration, warning against anticipatory compliance. AU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors has produced content calling for the protection of free expression on campus, academic freedom, and financial transparency. Most recently, leaders from AAUP and the student organization, Sunrise Movement, joined forces to participate in a national Day of Action for Higher Education, demanding that AU move to protect the vulnerable, academic freedom, and the university’s core mission.

These actions are representative of the culture of American University’s faculty and student body, indicative of an intense drive to work collectively towards institutional and federal change. As federal attacks on higher education continue to expand, diversify, and evolve, so will faculty and student-led resistance efforts, and so will the community networks of care and accountability built to protect one another amidst fear and threat. It is incredibly important that our work remains open, uncensored, and critical to maintain the integrity of our institution, the impact of our scholarly work, and the safety and well-being of all individuals. In sharing the direct concerns of participating American University faculty, I hope to promote this type of critical consciousness and uplift the intersecting burdens our faculty are facing.