2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll…..13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
— Simon Rosenberg (@simonwdc.bsky.social) 2025-08-19T15:04:09.500Z
Category: Education
Trump’s attack on education includes cutting Pell Grants
Trump is attacking every source of university income (research grant cancellations, a proposed endowment tax, cutting Pell Grant eligibility and in the 'big beautiful bill' changing the student loan program). It's a declaration of fiscal war on universities with students as collateral damage.
— Kim Lane Scheppele (@kimlanelaw.bsky.social) 2025-06-08T19:36:27.102Z
Another attack on higher education and low-income families: Trump aims to slash Pell Grants, which may limit low-income students’ college access. Some students will be forced to drop out, closing yet another avenue to escape the cycle of poverty. http://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/08/w…
— Social Media Lab (@socialmedialab.ca) 2025-06-09T10:50:03.680Z
The Trump administration is proposing the biggest cuts in a half-century to federal financial aid by reducing Pell Grant award amounts for low-income college students, plus the government’s contribution to the Federal Work-Study program. Fewer students will likely enroll in college
— Democratic Activists (@democratswin.bsky.social) 2025-06-06T10:45:38.090Z
Columbia was dumb to cave in to Trump
Trump treats concessions as weakness and will keep punishing you.
Was it worth it, Columbia?Look at what they made you give…www.nbcnews.com/news/educati…
— Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T20:33:19.758Z
So odd to see the former president of Columbia being more outspoken about the Trump administration's threat to academia than the current Columbia president.www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Gm…
— Karl Jacoby (@karl-jacoby.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T21:23:37.388Z
"Its first target was Columbia. When that school acceded to the administration’s demands, it didn’t get its funding back. Instead, Trump is considering demanding that Columbia agree to direct government oversight — effectively, a takeover of the university…"www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04…
— Rachel Maddow (@maddow.msnbc.com) 2025-04-15T03:59:27.476Z
Columbia University capitulated to Trump to get $400M in science funding released. What happened? Not only has the funding NOT been released, but all NIH funding ($700M last year) has been frozen. Giving in to bullies just makes them take more. arstechnica.com/science/2025…
— DrDinD.bsky.social (@drdind.bsky.social) 2025-04-10T21:33:32.747Z
"In an unusual move…" seems to be the media's preferred way of describing American fascism http://www.wsj.com/us-news/educ…
— Will Bunch (@willbunch.bsky.social) 2025-04-10T18:49:51.479Z
“If … you’re just being intimidated,” said Obama (Columbia ‘83, Harvard ‘91) “you should be able to say, ‘That’s why we got this big endowment’”www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202…
— Matthew Hay Brown (@matthewhaybrown.bsky.social) 2025-04-09T22:31:11.757Z
In what was a disgraceful show of stunning weakness, Columbia caved inBut compliance doesn’t workCompliance incentivizes the bully to ask more and moreIf the bully targets you, the only effective answer is to fight back
— Olivier Simard-Casanova (@o.simardcasanova.net) 2025-04-09T19:22:45.794Z
More on the damage from Trump’s attacks on science and education
This hits hard—and says everything about where we are right now.A Yale professor says he’s relocating to Canada to continue his democracy work. When asked why not stay in the U.S. and fight, he says he has two Black sons and he’s the son of a Holocaust survivor—and this is an “anti-Black moment”.
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) 2025-05-04T01:57:17.591Z
College decision day — the May 1 deadline at many schools across the country — coincided with a time of head-spinning upheaval, reversals and uncertainty in the first months of the Trump administration. Some students are turning down U.S. colleges for overseas options.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) 2025-05-02T17:49:31.049Z
One of the best ways to make a country great is to support science & education, but MAGA doesn't like their cult to be smart, because smart people figure out ways to overthrow tyrannical governments.
— Jason Dogwood 💙 🏳️🌈 🌱 (@jasondogwood.bsky.social) 2025-04-29T22:01:15.696Z
College admission diversity is down due to the Republican Supreme Court majority
Just another example of the Republican justices overturning long-settled precedents with Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
MIT is 1st highly selective university to release stas on its freshman class since US SupCt banned affirmation action in college admissions.
— (((Charles Fishman))) 💧 (@cfishman) August 21, 2024
Diversity tanks.
Class of 2027 admits v. 2028
Black: 15% —> 5%
Hispanic: 16% —> 11%
White: 38% —> 37%
Asian: 40% —> 47%
—>
In fall 2024, UNC admitted fewer percentages of students of color, with percentages of Black students in the class dropping around 25 percent from 2023.
— The Daily Tar Heel (@dailytarheel) September 19, 2024
Read the full story: "Students see admissions' diversity impact since affirmative action repeal" https://t.co/sAsy3aGbxl
Expressly prohibiting schools from having "diverse community" as a factor in admissions decisions means that the acceptance pool benefits the group with the most applicants (i.e. white people) at the expense of ALL minorities?
— Dan (BlueSky: izzos.us) (@Eodyne1) September 18, 2024
Oh look, it's the entirely predictable consequences https://t.co/GJh6WNcIEm
Yet we still have legacy admissions, preference for donors and faculty kids, and side doors for athletes. These "dips" are stolen dreams and forfeited opportunities that undermine the future of our country. https://t.co/5vvKvfy2qG
— Anthony Abraham Jack (@tony_jack) September 11, 2024
Johns Hopkins sees ‘significant setback’ as diversity of incoming class drops sharply https://t.co/CzxOBsifJo
— The Baltimore Banner (@BaltimoreBanner) September 20, 2024
I mean we already knew what they meant with their initial lawsuit but this second one confirms they explicitly wanted to end diversity admissions for us and us only https://t.co/GuiizeZ1aQ
— Janeé (@TheNewYawkr) September 18, 2024
For two more Massachusetts schools, predictions that a Supreme Court decision last year that ended affirmative action in college admissions would result in less diverse student bodies appear to be materializing. https://t.co/HeGKgSG9BI
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 31, 2024
When you focus on diversifying the applicant pool, you don't have to lower the standards. In fact, Duke Medical School's applicants' GPAs INCREASED as the school became more diverse.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) March 20, 2024
And here's the thing: Even though the % of nonwhite students increased… pic.twitter.com/KR9doVeTCl
Republican-driven school voucher programs are bad
They divert funds from public education and undermine it (which I think is a GOP goal).
The voucher misconception, repeated in today’s @nytimes assumes most private schools are elite—and accept low-income kids with a voucher.
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) July 29, 2024
They don’t.
Wealthier families get rebates for elite schools they’re already in, and lower income kids get shoved into sub-prime options pic.twitter.com/Bxuu3lqyt9
Another day, another news story: vouchers mostly go to kids already in private school.
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) June 17, 2024
The hit to state budgets and to public schools comes because taxpayers are now picking up the tab for choices previously made by the private sectorhttps://t.co/3uRyU9MMsw pic.twitter.com/u7Cu4il8ry
Ohio vouchers now at nearly $1 billion, with new users overwhelmingly white families and kids already in private schools.https://t.co/teWR8ba5PQ pic.twitter.com/u4W9lEWHvN
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) August 14, 2024
Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers' tuition that it's now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects https://t.co/E0SRB2IfZN
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 16, 2024
NC requires public school teachers to hold a license.
— Justin Parmenter (@JustinParmenter) July 8, 2024
Durham, NC's Mt. Zion Christian Academy receives public $ for vouchers.
They require their teachers to demonstrate their relationship w/the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues.
A license is optional. #nced #ncpol pic.twitter.com/G9IIkKmXbd
No state has ever written a blank check to ensure an adequate public education for every student, but Arizona did write a blank check for its private school voucher program. Now a perverse set of incentives are draining AZ public education. https://t.co/gOACT8Cgug
— Derek W. Black (@DerekWBlack) July 8, 2024
The recent @CNN report on vouchers quotes an inside document from Betsy DeVos’s lobby group:
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) June 26, 2024
They’ve spent $250 million since 2013.
To get $25 billion in voucher and voucher like systems from taxpayers.
This spending vastly exceeds previously reports.https://t.co/TZsDqmHUWw pic.twitter.com/uDlSUOoZ54
As the evidence for school vouchers collapsed over the last decade, the evidence case for directly funding public schools has continued to build.
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) June 24, 2024
That either is still a “debate” is the mere result of right-wing investment in a think tank network to manufacture a counter-reality. https://t.co/WFVxsZSqEw
“[N]ew evaluations of vouchers in Washington, D.C., Indiana, Louisiana, and Ohio show some of the largest test score drops ever seen in the research record—between -0.15 and -0.50 standard deviations of learning loss.” https://t.co/0Sd1FkrYWd
— jennycohn@toad.social ✍🏻 📢 (@jennycohn1) November 25, 2023
🚨
— David Pepper (@DavidPepper) August 25, 2024
What’s happening to education in states like Ohio
A 🧵
Not long ago, Ohio had the 5th highest system of public education in the nation.
Then big donors and Republican politicians got involved, largely drawn by the big money they sought to grab from public…
1/ pic.twitter.com/KvBijVu0Bh
ARIZONA: Exactly what people said would happen is happening. This is what @GovBillLee, Sexton and the @TNGOP have inflicted upon Tennessee with their privatizer pals. This is our future. http://www.washingtonpost.com/education/20…
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) 2025-08-07T14:19:42.823Z
Clarence Thomas opposes the Brown v. Board of Education 1954 ruling
Thomas is terrible,
I wasn’t aware the Justices were competing for worst headline of the week. https://t.co/OcGx3LlKb1
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) May 24, 2024
In a ruling on racial gerrymandering, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas also got in a swipe at the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education—which struck down racial segregation in schools.https://t.co/r6FH57izC7
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 24, 2024
Thomas implies that Baker v. Carr and Brown v. Board were incorrectly decided https://t.co/QXbQ11S6Kx
— Lawyers, Guns and Money (@lefarkins) May 24, 2024
After the Brown v. Board decision, white people across the South opened hundreds of private schools.
— ProPublica (@propublica) May 30, 2024
70 years later, most of the ones still open in Alabama’s Black Belt remain overwhelmingly white.
In this town, one school keeps kids divided. https://t.co/acLDbq7cWg
Today’s the anniversary of Brown v Board which was the first nail in coffin of segregation.
— Rachel Bitecofer 🗽💡🔭🦆 (@RachelBitecofer) May 17, 2024
Some Republican appointees sitting on the Supreme Court have refused to say Brown is settled law.
Nothing is safe if Trump wins.
Today I'm tackling one of Republican justices' most annoying habits:
— Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie (@AudreLawdAMercy) May 16, 2024
Pretending their attacks on human rights have anything in common with Brown v. Board of Educationhttps://t.co/vLZASxP4iC
I've said it before. The Republican Party is still fighting Brown v. Boardhttps://t.co/WboIQCPwUu
— John Refior is on Mastodon (@jrefior) May 5, 2022
This is really important – a push by the right to undo the legal legacy of Brown v. Board itself. https://t.co/Pwpy7cFoqY
— Will Stancil (@whstancil) February 11, 2019
U.S. Public Education Spending Statistics from the Education Public Education Initiative
This article has useful information on spending for each state. In general, the high spenders are blue states and low spenders are red states. Republican extremists are trying to sabotage public education.
Right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court (R) could end affirmative action
The Supreme Court is widely expected to overturn or roll back affirmative action in college admissions. Many education experts say this could change everything about the process — including scholarships, standardized testing and alumni preferences. https://t.co/ZHFngtGov6
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 16, 2023
Black applicants receiving offers of admission would drop to half that of white students…predicting a return to “1960s levels.” https://t.co/QHI8R1kAhh
— Jonathan M. Metzl (@JonathanMetzl) January 15, 2023
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear argument in a pair of cases raising the momentous question whether universities can continue to employ any sort of affirmative action in admissions.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) October 30, 2022
As the Dobbs case overturned some 50 years of precedent, the Court looks poised to undo
If the court ends affirmative action, even banning targeted outreach to POC applicants, there will still be aff action for rich (white) kids. https://t.co/GMPQYdQgSV
— Michael Mechanic (@MichaelMechanic) January 15, 2023
The Biden administration should have been prepared for the student loan court decision
You knew that Republican judges would do this.
The Biden administration should have anticipated what Republican judges would do and had something ready when the court decision was announced. This is also true of the Supreme Court abortion decision.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) November 16, 2022
Sad! 