Nathan J. Brown
The Middle East Program in Washington combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.Learn More
The Trump administration’s policy approach toward higher education might be summarized as everything, everywhere, all at once. So its decision to suspend student visas—and to hint that far more restrictive policies are in the offing—likely provoked the same two words in university administration buildings throughout the country: “Now what?” With a series of salvos aiming at the infrastructure for government-funded research, curriculum, and more, the new approach poses a real and profound threat to the U.S. higher education system as it has emerged over the past century.
That threat is perhaps at its most severe at the fiscal level, where the carpet is being pulled out from a set of arrangements that were built with bipartisan support over many decades. The move on student visas is likely less existential in a financial sense for most universities. But a permanent ban for specific institutions and a more general diminution of the flow of students from across the globe would hit a number of institutions very hard. And it is still potentially quite severe in its immediate effects, especially if the temporary bar turns into a long-term set of measures designed to restrict the number and kind of students admitted for study.
Most generally, the move augurs a new era in which what had been seen as a good thing is redefined as a risk to American security and a threat to American values. The attractiveness of U.S. higher education to international students has long been understood as a cornerstone of the country’s most successful and competitive industry and a source of strength, soft power, and revenue. Now it’s suddenly viewed with hostility and suspicion. The 180-degree shift among one pole in the country’s sharply divided political spectrum may not be easy to reverse.
Of course, the suspension of student visas is temporary, and the administration has promised a new policy soon. The effect of this move may be minimal in the short term. But there are two aspects that suggest far broader—if uncertain—implications.
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