President-elect Donald Trump has discussed plans to implement a number of widespread changes to higher education, including increased taxation on university endowments and withholding of federal funding from universities with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, both of which could potentially impact the University of Notre Dame.
David Campbell, a political science professor and director of the Notre Dame Democracy Initiative, shared that Trump’s proposed changes come as higher education has gone through an “erosion of confidence.”
Professor Geoffrey Layman, chair of the department of political science, echoed Campbell's statement, saying that “hostility to higher education has become part of the MAGA brand.”
According to Trump’s campaign website, one of his main proposals is to greatly increase the taxation on large university endowments. He claimed that he will use this higher tax revenue to create a free online university for American citizens called the American Academy.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 enabled the largest university endowments in the country to be taxed at a 1.4% rate. As of 2022, 33 universities, including Notre Dame, are subject to being taxed.
Campbell said that while it’s hard to predict whether or not Congress would pass legislation to increase the tax, he sees it as a very likely possibility, given both a Republican devaluing of higher education and because increases are “almost always the way taxes work.”
Layman, however, noted that while marginal increases of an expansion of the number of university endowments being taxed are foreseeable, he understands the current taxes to be fairly unpopular and does not believe increases would pass in congress.
Political science professor Darren Davis shared that while taxes have been implemented for a while, “what’s new is the attack on DEI programs and wokeness.” Trump has threatened to go after universities with DEI initiatives and withhold federal funds from those who, as he explains on his campaign website, are plagued by antisemitism.
Notre Dame receives federal funding via grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation and other organizations, meaning Notre Dame could be impacted if the Trump administration did decide to reprimand schools.
“The current taxes are a real cost to the University community, as the University is on the hook for millions of dollars a year that could be spent elsewhere on scholarships or other programs," Davis said.
That being said, all three professors were in agreement that Notre Dame would not be a priority if schools were reprimanded, only potentially receiving attention due to its large endowment.
“I would not characterize Notre Dame as being woke. I don’t think that many people would characterize Notre Dame as being woke,” Davis said. “I guess it all depends on how people think DEI has influenced Notre Dame … 'wokeness' has become a catch all phrase to describe everything that conservatives dislike, so I'm not sure how this will play out.”
“Notre Dame as an institution has generally not been in the crosshairs of these issues,” explained Campbell, agreeing with Davis. “Our president was not summoned to testify before Congress on anti-semitism and yes, Notre Dame has made a commitment to DEI, but it doesn't seem to play the same at Notre Dame as it does at any private university or as it does at the public schools.”
Layman noted that the pro-Palestine protests that happened here in the spring were extremely tame compared to those at other institutions, referencing Ivy League schools.
Campbell added that he’s not sure whether Notre Dame’s approach to DEI is all that different from those of other schools, but rather believes Notre Dame “just wasn’t the sort of school that [Republican representative and Trump UN ambassador nominee] Elise Stefanik and others on that [Congressional hearing on antisemitism] committee were seeking to target.” He noted that other top universities, such as University of Chicago and Vanderbilt University, were not targeted during the hearings either.
“Among elite universities, Notre Dame is relatively conservative," Layman said. "I just don’t feel like Notre Dame is a place that Trump is going to go after,” further suggesting that this is especially true due a big core of his support coming from American Catholics, especially increased support from Latino Catholic communities.
He also noted that even out of Catholic universities, Notre Dame would be an unlikely target due to the large proportion of Catholic universities being Jesuit and therefore more progressive.
Additionally, Trump has proposed large-scale changes to the Department of Education, suggesting it should be eliminated alongside the financial aid it provides. Davis said this stems from a belief that everyone should pay for college on their own.
Campbell emphasized that these changes could threaten the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which enables students to receive federal student aid and helps colleges to assess need. He noted that both Democrats and Republicans saw this year’s rollout of the new FAFSA as a disaster. While they might decide to upgrade and improve the FAFSA, the new administration might decide to rollback federal aid or decide to keep it complicated so they don’t have to disperse as much money. Campbell believes the latter option would be very unpopular.
If FAFSA or similar initiatives were impacted by the new administration, Davis said, “Many students would not be able to afford to go to college. Many students would not be able to afford Notre Dame.”
Campbell suggested this would be unpopular as most Americans still believe in the value of a college education and that students coming from lower socioeconomic backgrounds should have every opportunity to attend college.
Layman said he believes “the idea of forgiveness for student loans is out the window,” despite some forgiveness being popular among American voters.
“It will be interesting to see how the relationship between the Trump administration and higher education works,” Layman said. “I think there has been some realization, even in the Democratic Party, that some things have gone too far when it comes to ‘woke-ism’ as far as public opinion goes … I think some major universities are realizing that they've just sort of moved too far a liberal progressive direction.”
“They’ve realized that they've become too political or not balanced enough in terms of providing a venue for both sides," he added. "There will already be adjustments of higher education that will put it less in tension with the Trump administration.”
Layman noted that he believes Trump will find universities slightly less at odds with his ideas than he did during his first presidency, as he’s seen some pullback already on DEI initiatives after the push for universities to embrace DEI and anti-racism after the initial George Floyd protests.
