‘Chaotic’ Democrats leave universities to fend for themselves

The Democratic Party is stuck “between a rock and a hard place” in trying to defend higher education from the Trump administration and grow support among the working class, scholars have warned.

The Republican president’s comprehensive election victory in November has already led to a crackdown on diversity policies, the gutting of federal research agencies and an attempt to shutter the Department of Education.

With a defeated Kamala Harris and former president Joe Biden absent from the scene, the Democrats are in “chaos” at the moment and lacking clear leadership, according to Mark Shanahan, associate professor of political engagement at the University of Surrey.

The “disarray” among their usual political allies is causing more concern among universities than the shock they felt in 2016 when Donald Trump won his first term, said Shanahan.

“This time round, it’s moved from shock to fear because there is a sense that this administration is very much better organised. And that there isn’t really any significant opposition from the Democrats at present.”

He said there are concerns that liberal arts colleges might not survive the next four years or face having to change their offer entirely without more political support.

Senator Bernie Sanders has been vocal in his opposition to Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) but, like other prominent Democrats, is in the twilight of his career.

Nancy Pelosi, former Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, is 84 years old and expected to step down at the end of this term. Chuck Schumer is 74 and now reduced to the role of Minority Leader of the Senate after the Republicans flipped it in November.

Younger rising stars are possibly aware that their party’s reputation as one of educated, coastal elites will not be helped by rushing to defend colleges on trans right issues or antisemitism investigations.

“They are between the proverbial rock and the hard place because the people that they have to win back over for their support are largely the people who have not gone to college,” said Shanahan.

The party needs to return to the Harris campaign belief in widening participation and the idea that higher education is for everyone, not just the traditional four-year degree programmes, he added.

“But it is going to be very difficult when they’re pushing against MAGA voters and a lot of MAGA-supportive media who see those colleges as the very bastion of the eliteship that this government has set itself out supposedly to destroy.”

Iwan Morgan, emeritus professor in the Institute of the Americas at University College London, said congressional Democratic leaders may be “keeping their powder dry” for issues that could rally popular support rather than taking on the administration on topics that are not vote winners.

But because the “shell-shocked” Democrats are focused on redefining themselves as a party for the lower and lower middle-income voter, it is “bad news” for higher education, he added.

“This sense that a culture war had been perpetrated in university classrooms and common rooms and spread throughout the country is one of the kind of banner issues that Republicans are flagging up.

“It’s complete fallacy…but the debate about complexities has been lost in the Trumpian assault on the general culture of woke and DEI.”

Having lost control of Congress and the White House and lacking grassroots demands to defend higher education, the Democrats are in an “almost impossible situation”, agreed Laura Smith, assistant teaching professor at Arizona State University and a presidential historian.

“Democrats’ opposition across the board has been uncoordinated and ineffective. Focusing on something specific, like protecting the Department of Education, would be a start,” she said.

“The rate of executive orders and DOGE actions is creating innumerable legal quagmires that distract from focusing on any particular issue or department.”

However, Smith said the faltering economy provides Democrats with an opportunity both in the midterms and in the next presidential election in 2028.

“If they are able to associate higher education with economic opportunity, rather than it being deemed an Ivy Tower bogeyman, it could help change hearts and minds.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com