Trump’s attack on Fulbright scholarships will lead to U.S. brain drain | Opinion
There are many casualties in President Trump’s crusade against research and higher education. One that demands more attention is his attack on the prestigious Fulbright Foreign Student Program, which has selected many scholars from Sacramento and California who have studied around the world while promoting cultural understanding.
Last Wednesday, all but one of the members of the 12-person Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned, citing interference by the Trump administration. Fulbright was among the departments targeted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that laid off 10,000 federal workers earlier this year. The administration also froze funds to the program, leaving many scholars stranded domestically and abroad.
More broadly, Trump’s battle with Fulbright symbolizes his administration’s efforts to withdraw the United States from the international stage. The Trump administration has pulled America out of the Paris Climate Agreement, imposed severe tariffs that shook the global market and enforced a travel ban on 12 countries.
Long wait and little communication
The sitting president appoints board members to three-year terms, who meet quarterly to establish the policies and procedures of the program. They are also responsible for selecting the scholarship recipients.
On June 11, the former Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board members posted a joint resignation statement to Substack, making clear their reasons for resignation:
“However, the current administration has usurped the authority of the Board and denied Fulbright awards to a substantial number of individuals who were selected for the 2025-2026 academic year,” the letter reads.
“The administration is also currently subjecting an additional 1,200 foreign Fulbright recipients to an unauthorized review process and could reject more. We believe these actions not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the Fulbright mission and values, including free speech and academic freedom, that Congress specified in the statute.”
The Fulbright application is an arduous, year-long process. Applications open in the spring with a deadline to submit in October. After submitting applications, applications must go through multiple rounds of consideration — first they must be approved by the college or university they’re applying through, and selected applicants are forwarded to the national committee for screening.
Those selected by the national committee are alerted that they’re semifinalists between December and January. Semifinalists then have to wait for approval from the host country, which can arrive from February all the way through June.
This year’s applicants became semifinalists amid an administration transition, as President Biden ceded the White House to President Trump.
In late February, the Trump administration paused state funding to the Fulbright program, stranding scholars at home and abroad. Semifinalists were met with radio silence from the Fulbright Board — final decisions didn’t begin trickling in until late April and early May.
For Ang Lee, a finalist from Southern California’s Pitzer College pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Toronto, finding out that members of the Fulbright Board had been haggling with the Trump administration was illuminating.
“Well, I feel like it was also very clarifying for me, because, you know, we’re kept in the dark for weeks. And I was like, ‘Oh, they must be, like, screaming and fighting.’ And it turns out, yeah, they were,” he said.
“There was no reason, there was no reassurance that the program was still happening. So I felt like that was really unnerving, especially mid to late April.”
Natasha Yen, also a finalist for research in Indonesia, also felt in the dark about the program’s plans.
“I felt unsure if the program was even going to proceed for the 2025-2026 cycle. The Fulbright Board resignations revealed how federal pressures have restricted usual processes from within the Bureau,” Yen said via a message on Instagram.
“I’m feeling a lot of uncertainty for what this will mean for the 2025-2026 program, but for now just proceeding as directed. Selected candidates are still being asked to complete clearance and onboarding processes, and there are still orientations scheduled for my program,” she said.
A new era of American soft power
Gutting programs like Fulbright and attacking universities will inevitably result in a U.S. brain drain. Withdrawing America from the international stage hands the reins over to authoritarian regimes that will fill the U.S.’s vacancy.
The Fulbright-Hays Act was conceived during the peak of American influence abroad. Senator J. William Fulbright introduced the bill a year after the fall of Nazi Germany. After World War II, the United States became the foremost global superpower with 800 military bases around the world.
The United States came into this position because we meddled with foreign countries’ civil wars and politics. We weren’t thrust into this position against our will. For better or for worse, much of the world looks to America for refuge, education and innovation.
Former board member James Costos wrote about a moment he shared with Senator Fulbright’s wife, Mrs. Harriet Mayor Fulbright, on LinkedIn.
“I had the great honor of meeting Mrs. Harriet Mayor Fulbright, the widow of Senator J. William Fulbright. As we spoke about the program’s legacy, she leaned in and shared something simple, yet profound: she said her husband created the Fulbright Program, among other things, to help prevent a third world war,” he wrote.
Senator Fulbright understood the power the United States wielded and, rather than solely using it for military dominance, he sought a way to help the rest of the world benefit.
America has the power to change the world, and it’s our duty to use that power responsibly.
