Why Fulbright board members resigned in mass last week

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: A week ago, 11 of the 12 members of the board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright Program, which promotes international educational exchanges, resigned, citing political interference by the Trump administration in their work.

In a statement, the board members said they chose to resign, “rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright Program nearly 80 years ago.”

Joining us now is one of the former members of the Fulbright board, David Price, former Democratic congressman from North Carolina.

Congressman, it’s great to have you here.

Fmr. Rep. David Price (D-NC): Good to be here. Thank you.

Geoff Bennett: And we should explain for the unfamiliar, the — Fulbright is overseen, it’s funded by the State Department as the government’s flagship international educational exchange program.

How would you describe the political interference that you experienced by the Trump administration?

Fmr. Rep. David Price: Well, when the program was first set up almost 80 years ago, Senator Fulbright himself wanted to safeguard against political interference in the program in the selection of scholars, interference with academic freedom on the part of any administration in the future.

So the board was written into the statute with precisely that mission. It’s an unusual mission for a board, but we were given final authority over the selection process. And we went through that, as we always do, this year. We had the awards ready to go in the middle of March.

But the Trump administration’s political appointees told us that they intended to review our work and to make their own judgments. And that was ominous, but we watched that process. We tried to communicate with them. When we got wind that they were going to be canceling a number of the awards, we objected and cited our statutory responsibility and the values underlying it.

And we got silence, no response whatsoever. So, finally, when all this became clear in the middle of May, two months later, over 200 applications had been canceled by the Trump appointees. And another 1,200 or so were under review. At that point, it was clear that the Trump administration wasn’t responsive to our questions and they were ignoring their legislative mandate.

And we didn’t think there was more we could do. Indeed, we just could not remain in position and appear to legitimize the gross distortion — for the first time in 80 years, the first gross distortion of this program, the political interjection of politics into the selection process.

Geoff Bennett: Well, our team reached out to the State Department for comment on all of this.

And a statement provided by a spokesperson reads in part this way: “The 12 members of the Fulbright board were partisan political appointees of the Biden administration. It’s ridiculous to believe that these members would continue to have final say over the application process, especially when it comes to determining academic suitability and alignment with President Trump’s executive orders.”

How do you respond to that argument?

Fmr. Rep. David Price: I’m saying that President Trump’s executive orders cannot override the statute and that the board is established by statute precisely to protect the integrity of the program.

So, as usual, they’re kind of turning things totally on their head. Yes, we’re presidential appointees. And that’s always been the case. But this is a board with a particular charge, a particular charge written in statute. And the charge is precisely to avoid what the Trump administration, for the first time in history, they have done what Senator Fulbright most feared.

Geoff Bennett: To your point about all of this being written in statute, the board has resigned. So what recourse is there at this point, if any?

Fmr. Rep. David Price: It’s a very precarious situation.

By the way, there is a small Fulbright Program that’s administered by the Education Department. That one has gone away simply because the DOGE guys fired all the people who were administering it. And now the president has zeroed out the Fulbright Program in the coming budget.

Now, when he did that in his first term, Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, wrote the program back into the appropriations bills. And, of course, we very much hope that will happen. So we hope for funding. But, of course, then there will still be the question of the impartial administration of the program, which preserves academic freedom and preserves the diplomatic strength of this program, which is — lies in its integrity, its worldwide respect.

It’s just been a mainstay of American foreign policy ever since World War II. And the thought that this would be distorted in this way, let alone that it would go away, is just unthinkable.

Geoff Bennett: Well, I was going to ask you how you see this affecting the Fulbright’s global reputation, its longstanding role in public diplomacy.

But, beyond that, I mean, do you see a longer-term risk to U.S. academic exchange programs like the Fulbright?

Fmr. Rep. David Price: Yes and yes.

There’s no question this has been a mainstay of American soft power, so-called, a major diplomatic — major source of goodwill and strong ties of friendship, association with this country all over the world.

The list is very, very long of Fulbright Scholars who went on to become leaders in their countries. It is just a linchpin of American diplomatic relations. And, of course, it’s also an important academic program. Thousands of U.S. students and young faculty are able to go abroad and strengthen their education.

And there too it depends, though. A lot depends on its integrity and the academic freedom that’s always been respected.

Geoff Bennett: David Price, always great to speak with you. Thanks for being with us.

Fmr. Rep. David Price: Thank you. I appreciate it.