Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
CLEMSON — In a show of solidarity with besieged faculty at universities under scrutiny by the Trump administration, faculty at Clemson University voted on a largely symbolic resolution rejecting attempts to get various schools to agree to a list of demands in exchange for guarantees of federal funding. Clemson's faculty senate met Oct. 21 to discuss budget cuts, academic freedom and pending state legislation, but also political pressure to align universities, including Clemson, with a partisan agenda. The Trump administration presented a "compact" in recent weeks to nine leading universities. So far, seven have rejected it. Clemson was not among that initial group of nine, and the university’s top academic officer, Provost Bob Jones, told the assembled faculty that Clemson leaders will avoid weighing in on the compact until administration officials approach the university. Eliza Gallagher, a Clemson faculty senator and associate professor of math and statistics, joined the majority of professors defending academic freedom. “Higher education needs to stand together,” she said. “Taking this action, voting for this resolution, passing this resolution before we are in the position of having been offered the compact helps us stand with higher education. It helps us stand against the infringement of academic freedom that we've been feeling the pressure of.” At Clemson, two faculty were fired last month after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus, prompting some to object to what they argued were curbs to academic freedom and First Amendment rights. Clemson also is under investigation by the Trump administration over its participation in the Ph.D. Project, a program designed to develop minority business faculty. The resolution that faculty passed — co-authored by associate professor of genetics and biochemistry Michael Sehorn — calls for independent governance, the defense of longstanding academic principles such as free inquiry and non-partisan scholarship, and a reiteration of Clemson’s mandate to educate students to "think deeply."
