Sandoval signs on to letter objecting to Trump’s higher ed interference 

By Dana Gentry, Nevada Current

Former Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, who currently serves as president of the University of Nevada, Reno, is one of 435 university and college presidents and chancellors to sign on to a letter protesting the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American education.”

The letter from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), which is clearly directed at President Donald Trump without mentioning him by name, opposes “undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”

The AAC&U letter, Sandoval said via email, “refers to the essential role that our colleges and universities play in our society in educating students to sustain our democracy, ensuring that faculty and staff have academic freedom and that our campuses in general remain places where the individual freedoms of all people are not curtailed or used as a means for punishment.”

The message also “affirms the multitude of benefits that further all segments of our world through the work that comes from public research funding,” Sandoval said.

Last week, Trump froze $2.2 billion in research funding designated for Harvard University, which refused to capitulate to the president’s political demands, “including federal audits of Harvard’s programs, agreements to screen international students for their beliefs, and the installation of administrators who will ensure the White House’s demands are carried out,” the Harvard Crimson reported. Harvard is suing the Trump administration.

And earlier this week Trump signed a slew of executive orders on education, including one that aims to “overhaul” college accreditation.

During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to fire “radical Left accreditors,” claiming they “have allowed our colleges to become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics.”

“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” says the AAC&U letter. “However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.”

Four Nevada institutions – UNR, the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), Nevada State University (NSU), and the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) – are members of AAC&U.

Late Thursday a spokesperson for NSU President DeRionne Pollard notified the Current that Pollard had signed on to the letter.

UNLV and CSN did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Nevada System of Higher Education said the System did not entertain signing the letter, and suggested it was for individual institutions only.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: [email protected].