An expanding cabal of university presidents and administrators — covering the higher-ed spectrum from the Ivy League to community colleges — has coalesced to form a progressive counter to the Trump administration’s varied efforts to rein in the schools’ massive federal funding and DEI apparatus.

Some 600-plus “university and college presidents and other educational leaders” have now signed a group letter — released last month and quarterbacked by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences — declaring they “speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.”

Without naming Trump or his administration’s actions, the signatories claim they are “are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” but

must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.

The represented schools are, from a conservative perspective, a round-up of the usual suspects, with all the Ivy League represented, but for Dartmouth, along numerous elite institutions. No surprise: Not to be found among the signatories are presidents of institutions dedicated to classical education, including Hillsdale College, Grove City College, and those authentically Catholic Cardinal Newman Society schools such as Thomas Aquinas College, The Catholic University of America, Benedictine College, and Wyoming Catholic College.

(The list, however, includes plenty of saints — Anslem, Peter’s, Mary’s, Joseph’s, Paul, Louis. Michael’s among them, as well as two Notre Dames.)

In addition to Dartmouth — under the leadership of President Sian Beilock, who in her short tenure has gained attention for restoring SAT scores for admissions to the Ivy college, and for her firm handling of anti-Semitic campus protests — other notable schools not represented on the letter include Stanford University, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Vanderbilt, NYU, Cal Tech, and USC.

Initial press reports on the letter spotlighted Dartmouth’s absence from the signer rolls, and a steady stream of articles and op-eds wage a de facto effort to pressure Beilock into joining. That campaign is paralleled by a more direct faculty and alumni petition demanding the school administration:

Coordinate with other colleges and universities and other relevant educational, scientific, and cultural institutions to mount a strong, collective opposition to unlawful federal government actions that threaten academic freedom and freedom of thought and expression.

In an April 23rd letter to the “Dartmouth Community,” Beilock explained her opposition to signing “open form letters because they are rarely effective tools to make change.” She also offered a sober reflection on the how colleges and universities have made themselves a target of concern for the Trump administration:

Higher-education institutions, especially the most elite among us, are not above reproach. Not only is trust in higher education at an all-time low, but that trust is hugely polarized, second in polarization only to the U.S. presidency. If we don’t ask ourselves why, we will squander this opportunity to do better. That spirit of self reflection does not, in any way, insulate the government from criticism. It simply gives us an opportunity to look at ourselves and ask where we can be truer to our own ideals.

Beilock has gained the admiration of the Dartmouth Free Speech Alliance (a chapter of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance umbrella group), which is helping promote a petition that praises the school president’s “commitment to fostering a strong culture of free expression and her thoughtful navigation of the challenges facing higher education today,” and declares:

While many of us share concerns about recent federal actions that may undermine academic freedom at peer institutions, we believe President Beilock is taking a measured and deliberate approach — considering how best to respond in a way that serves both Dartmouth and the broader academic community.