Key Takeaways
- Nationwide protests, organized under the banner of Students Rise Up, took place at over 100 US campuses against the Trump administration’s influence on higher education.
- The protests involved students, faculty, and staff, uniting various groups like Sunrise Movement, Campus Climate Network, AAUP, and Higher Education Labor United.
- Protesters are opposing Trump’s “compact,” demanding universities reject preferential federal funding in exchange for advancing a conservative agenda.
- The protests also called for affordable education and protections for transgender and international students.
- Organizers aim to escalate actions, potentially leading to strikes on May Day and a nationwide general strike in May 2028.
- The influence of wealthy donors, particularly Marc Rowan, on higher education policies is also being challenged.
Summary
On Friday, students, faculty, and staff mobilized at more than 100 campuses across the United States in a coordinated protest against the Trump administration’s efforts to influence higher education. Organized under the banner of Students Rise Up, this day of action represents the first in a series of planned nationwide protests, with organizers envisioning escalating actions that could culminate in student and worker strikes on May Day (May 1st) and a broader nationwide general strike in May 2028. The Students Rise Up network is comprised of local groups as well as national organizations like the Sunrise Movement and the Campus Climate Network. Faculty and educational workers’ unions, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and Higher Education Labor United, also joined in support of the protests.
A central focus of the protests is opposition to the Trump administration’s attempts to exert ideological control over universities. Protesters are calling on university administrators and elected officials to publicly denounce the president’s efforts to pressure US universities into adhering to his administration’s ideological priorities. They are also urging them to reject Trump’s “compact,” which dangles the prospect of preferential access to federal funding in exchange for a commitment to advancing the administration’s conservative agenda. To date, only one university, New College of Florida, a public school transformed into a conservative bastion by state legislators, has accepted this compact.
Alicia Colomer, managing director at Campus Climate Network, emphasized that universities should be centers of learning, not propaganda tools. She explained that the protests were organized in response to the compact and other perceived threats to academic freedom.
The protests saw hundreds of students walk out of classes, unfurl banners, and rally on campuses across the country, frequently joined by faculty and other staff. Beyond opposing the compact, protesters also advocated for more affordable education and the protection of all students, including transgender and international students.
Specific examples of protest actions include the University of Kansas, where approximately 70 students demanded that the administration divest from weapons manufacturers and Israel, refuse to collaborate with ICE, safeguard gender-affirming housing, and meet faculty demands for fair contracts. At Duke University in North Carolina, students and professors displayed signs demanding the university stand with immigrants, pay its workers a $25 hourly wage, and protect trans and international students. At Brown University in Rhode Island, where the university reached a settlement with the Trump administration earlier in the year, passersby were invited to participate in a symbolic gesture by dipping their hands in paint and leaving their print on a banner listing a series of demands. Meanwhile, a group of faculty members lectured nearby on the history of autocracy.
In New York City, students and faculty from various campuses convened near the headquarters of Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, to protest its CEO, Marc Rowan. Rowan, a billionaire Trump donor, is viewed as a key architect of the “compact” and someone who is perceived to have undue influence over higher education policy. Protesters highlighted Rowan’s involvement with the University of Phoenix, which they characterized as the largest single producer of student debt in the country, and his role in enabling the misuse of civil rights legislation to target universities over criticism of Israel from students and faculty.
While Apollo did not provide a comment, it was reported that the firm advised staff to work from home on Friday in anticipation of the protest. Rowan has defended the compact in a New York Times op-ed, arguing that American higher education is “broken” and that “course correction must come from the outside.”
Amy Offner, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, stated that the campaign against Rowan is part of a larger effort to shield US higher education from the influence of extremely wealthy individuals. She asserted that billionaires should not control what is taught and studied in the United States.
Todd Wolfson, the president of the AAUP, underscored the importance of unity between students, faculty, and staff, stating that this is the only way to save higher education and democracy. He emphasized the need to become a new political force.
