Americanswers! What’s happening in Trump’s battle with universities?
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has started a series of high-stakes battles with America’s elite universities. Back in April, he froze $2 billion in federal grants from Harvard University and accused the college of antisemitism, "radical left" ideologies and racial bias. A US federal court has since overturned the funding cuts while other Ivy League universities have struck deals with the White House instead of going to court.
In October, Justin and Anthony sat down with Inez Stepman, the education specialist whose views have inspired White House decision making when it comes to higher education in America. That discussion prompted a wave of correspondence from Americasters about the administration’s motivations for reform and its consequences for public opinion.
Justin and Anthony are back for a special edition of Americanswers dedicated to the future of US universities…
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | For the last question and answer session of the year, we are going to focus on one topic |
| 0:10.5 | because it is the topic that interests you. It interests you apparently more than any other. |
| 0:16.5 | We had a massive, massive reaction from listeners to this topic. |
| 0:22.4 | The biggest response we've ever had, I sound like Donald Trump, don't know, but it was the biggest response ever from you. |
| 0:28.7 | The topic is universities in higher education. |
| 0:31.3 | So, as the Trump administration carries on with its threats to defund colleges, including, of course, the most prestigious, the elite universities. Some of those universities are negotiating. Others are saying no. Plenty |
| 0:44.5 | of people say it's been a long time coming and that there is no such thing as proper |
| 0:48.9 | academic freedom and that maybe Donald Trump will help with that. And we heard from a very |
| 0:53.8 | staunch Donald Trump supporter earlier in the year who said just that. |
| 0:58.1 | Universities have departed from their central mission, which is the inquiry into truth. |
| 1:03.8 | There's a democratic correction to that because they are creatures of the state. |
| 1:09.4 | They are not independent from the state. |
| 1:11.9 | Again, if they want to be independent from the state, |
| 1:14.2 | they're more than free to do that. |
| 1:15.6 | Harvard has a $53 billion endowment. |
| 1:18.3 | That's more than the GDP of many countries. |
| 1:22.3 | These are not weak institutions. |
| 1:23.8 | These are institutions that have become incredibly wealthy, |
| 1:27.4 | not because of the particular learning that they're imparting to their students, right? |
| 1:31.6 | But because they serve and increasingly what they've served as are networking institutions for already wealthy, already elite people. |
| 1:40.0 | That was Inez Stetman. So was she right? Was she wrong? Time to answer your questions on universities and the future of higher education in Donald Trump's America. |
... |
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