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More than 400 university and college leaders across the country have signed onto a letter condemning the “unprecedented” attempts by President Donald Trump to control higher education. Just one school president in Utah has added her name. Westminster University President Beth Dobkin — who oversees the state’s smallest traditional higher education institution — is the only Utah signee speaking out to defend the autonomy of schools from federal overreach.
“The same core values that have guided Westminster for the past 150 years are the same values that are under attack today: authentic and inclusive affirmation of individual identities, and knowledge from openness, questioning, discernment and personal passion,” she said in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune. It’s likely Dobkin, who took the helm of the Salt Lake City school in July 2018, is the only school leader in the state who could join the effort without facing repercussions — as a private university president. Late in 2023, the state — with the backing of Gov.
Spencer Cox — formally approved a policy prohibiting Utah’s public higher education leaders from taking any political stance. They must remain neutral “on political, social or unsettled issues that do not directly relate to the institution’s mission, role or pedagogical objectives.” The Utah Board of Higher Education set that policy and could take action, as it has the authority to hire and fire presidents.
But where does the line fall when an issue does relate to education? So far, that boundary hasn’t been tested. The letter to Trump, for instance, deals with the ability of schools to govern themselves, without federal interference or threats to funding. And it comes shortly after the Trump administration froze billions of federal funds earmarked for Harvard University.
Harvard has since sued over the funding freeze , and its leader also signed onto the message. Higher education has been repeatedly targeted by Trump since he took office in January. Universities have been facing significant cuts proposed for federal research funding , as well as project terminations because the work has been focused on diversity or inclusion.
The letter, released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities , reads, in part: “As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live and work on our campuses.
” Notably, several public schools in Utah are formal members of the association , including the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, Weber State University, Salt Lake Community College and Snow College. Trump has also pushed for his administration to revoke the visas of more than 1,000 international college students nationwide. In Utah, 50 have been affected.
Most do not have criminal records and are unclear why they have been told to immediately self-deport. Dobkin said she’s proud to stand with other school leaders. And she has been outspoken in Utah, defending diversity and inclusion efforts as vital.
“While we welcome a national conversation about the value of higher education, this particular attack is motivated by political gain,” she said. Her comments in response to signing the letter also align with her annual spring address that she made to the campus last week . During that, she specifically called out the visa revocations.
“Our world is increasingly chaotic: whiplash from economic policies, deportations and canceled visas, federal programs and services cut, ideas banned, histories erased,” she said. Even though Westminster is a small school, with about 1,200 students , the stakes are still high for Dobkin to speak out. The university has one of the highest percentages in Utah of students who rely on federal loans — 69% — to attend .
Those are currently managed by the U.S. Department of Education, which Trump is pushing to dismantle.
“Our students, and our country, cannot afford to lose this support,” she said. Westminster also uses federal funding, Dobkin said, to operate its tax clinic and McNair Scholars program, which supports underrepresented students going onto graduate studies. Schools that have pushed back against Trump have seen their funding put at risk.
Dobkin mentioned Harvard in her address. “The current confrontation between Harvard and the federal government has the potential to affect all of higher education, despite the fact that Harvard is private, and possibly financially independent,” she said. The letter, she said, is a plea from university leaders to protect academic freedom and the benefits that higher education provides to the country — economically and philosophically.
“These values are intertwined, and they are under attack — easy to ridicule and distort, and complicated to explain and defend,” she told The Tribune. “But if we give up on them, we give up on higher education, we give up on democracy and we give up on the future. I’m not ready to do that.
” (Photo courtesy of Westminster University) Westminster University in Salt Lake City, Utah..
