In Trump vs Universities, Students Are Stuck In The Middle
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has fundamentally reshaped the federal government’s relationship with many of the nation’s most revered universities. Schools are finding themselves in an unwinnable fight: either capitulate to Trump’s authoritarian-esq demands or lose millions – even billions – in federal funding. Some schools, like Columbia, have already caved. Others, like Harvard, have been more defiant. Either way, the impact is not theoretical, and current students are feeling it acutely. Nathan Elias, editor and chief of the University of Southern California’s student newspaper paper the Daily Trojan, tells us what he’s hearing from his fellow students.
And in headlines: The U.S. economy shrunk in the first few months of the year, Trump admitted he ‘could’ bring back a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador, and the Supreme Court appears ready to green light religious public charter schools.
Show Notes:
- Check out the Daily Trojan – https://dailytrojan.com/
- Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8
- What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast
- Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/
- For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's Thursday, May 1st. I'm Josie Duffy Rice, in for Jane Koston, and this is What a Day. |
| 0:08.7 | The show that didn't know that President Donald Trump is joining the liberal war on Christmas. |
| 0:13.4 | Somebody said, oh, the shelves are going to be open. Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dollars, you know. |
| 0:20.0 | And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. |
| 0:24.6 | Daddy Warbux says only two dolls for America's children. |
| 0:28.8 | And you know what? |
| 0:29.7 | As someone who lives in a house with so many dolls everywhere all of the time with a four-year-old, |
| 0:34.8 | I'm kind of for this two-doll thing. |
| 0:39.4 | On today's show, Ukraine signs of minerals deal with the U.S. as Treasury Secretary Scott |
| 0:44.0 | Besant criticizes Russia's war. And the economy shows more signs of decline with first-quarter |
| 0:49.6 | GDP numbers. But first, let's start with Trump's war on college campuses. |
| 0:55.3 | Many institutions find themselves copped up in an unwinnable fight. |
| 0:59.6 | You either capitulate to the president's authoritarian-esque demands, or you lose millions |
| 1:04.6 | or even billions in federal funding, including critical medical research dollars. |
| 1:09.6 | Some schools like Columbia have already caved. |
| 1:12.6 | Others have been more defiant. |
| 1:13.6 | Harvard, for example, filed a lawsuit against the administration. |
| 1:16.6 | And others are trying to get out of his crosshairs while maintaining some autonomy. |
| 1:21.6 | But either way, for many institutions, the impact is not theoretical. |
| 1:25.6 | Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are being |
| 1:28.6 | shut down, campus protests are being curtailed, and the administration is threatening some of these |
| 1:33.8 | institutions tax-exempt status. Some of these policies, practices, and orders are being challenged, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from What A Day, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of What A Day and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.