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.

Good to be here. Thank you.

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?

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.

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