200-plus college leaders, several in Central NY, condemn Trump administration 'overreach'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

61% : It includes research universities and community colleges; comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges; public institutions and private ones; freestanding and multi-site campuses.
59% : "The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society.
52% : " On April 11, the Trump administration sent a five-page letter to Harvard with a a series of demands for the university, including major changes in leadership; ceasing all diversity initiatives in admissions, hiring and promotions; reforming international admissions to screen out applicants "hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence"; reporting to federal authorities any foreign student who commits a "conduct violation"; auditing the entire student body, staff and leadership for "viewpoint diversity"; and more. When Harvard said that it would not meet the demands, the administration announced that it was freezing $2.2 billion in grants for the school, and President Trump threatened to revoke the school's tax-exempt status as an educational institution.
51% : Last month, Columbia University said that it would agree to demands made by Trump administration, which had threatened the school with a loss of federal funding.
46% : We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.
44% : We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight.
40% : After the administration froze $1 billion in federal funding and grant money, Cornell University joined a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy and DOE Secretary Chris Wright, alleging cuts to its research grants violate federal regulations.
37% : Harvard is not not the only university that has had funding frozen or cut by Trump.
28% : More than 200 college presidents and academic leaders from around the country -- including several from Central New York schools -- released an open letter on Tuesday speaking out against "unprecedented government overreach and political interference" against educational institutions by the Trump administration.
24% : The statement, titled "A Call for Constructive Engagement," reads: "As leaders of America's colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.

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