Entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board Quits In Protest Of Trump
A mass resignation at one of America’s most iconic academic programs is revealing just how deeply entrenched the foreign-student bureaucracy has become—and how fiercely it opposes President Donald J. Trump’s second-term push to secure U.S. campuses from foreign infiltration.
All twelve members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board abruptly resigned this week, accusing President Trump’s administration of tightening long-ignored rules governing the foreign student pipeline that has flooded American universities for decades.
In a dramatic resignation letter, the board wrote: “Effective immediately, members of the Congressionally mandated Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board voted overwhelmingly to resign from the board, rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago.”
The board insisted it had operated above politics for decades.
“Under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, the Board has followed the law, operating with independence pursuant to its statutory mandate. Indeed, the Fulbright-Hays Act emphasizes the non-political and non-ideological character of the program,” the letter continued.
But the members claimed the Trump administration had crossed a red line by scrutinizing foreign award recipients more closely.
“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 administration is also currently subjecting an additional 1,200 foreign Fulbright recipients to an unauthorized review process and could reject more,” they wrote.
They further charged that the reforms “not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the Fulbright mission and the values, including free speech and academic freedom, that Congress specified in the statute.”
According to the letter, their protests were repeatedly dismissed.
“We have raised these legal issues and our strong objections with senior administration officials on multiple occasions, including in writing,” they said. “It is our sincere hope that Congress, the courts, and future Fulbright Boards will prevent the administration’s efforts to degrade, dismantle, or even eliminate one of our nation’s most respected and valuable programs. Injecting politics and ideological mandates into the Fulbright program violates the letter and spirit of the law that Congress so wisely established nearly eight decades ago.”
But inside the administration, officials argue the opposite: that the real threat to academic freedom and national security comes from hostile foreign actors—many of whom have taken advantage of America’s lax educational vetting for years.
Those concerns became more urgent this month after federal prosecutors revealed that a Chinese national, Chengxuan Han, attempted to smuggle biological material into the country.
“The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien from a science and technology university in Wuhan, China — to be used at a University of Michigan laboratory — is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr.
FBI leadership echoed the warning.
“The FBI has zero tolerance for those who violate federal law and remains unwavering in our mission to protect the American people,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “The alleged smuggling of biological materials by Chengxuan Han is a direct threat to public safety and national security, and it severely compromises the integrity of our nation’s research institutions.”
Han had been brought to the University of Michigan as a visiting scholar—exactly the type of placement critics say is routinely exploited by the Chinese government. According to the Detroit Free Press, she shipped multiple packages to the U.S., one sent directly to an active lab member and another addressed to a university employee.
In court filings, Han admitted she was mailing “nematode growth medium (NGM) (in the petri dishes) and plasmids (in the envelope).”
And concerns over foreign infiltration aren’t limited to Michigan. Just last month, the Stanford Review uncovered what it described as an extensive Chinese espionage network operating on the university’s campus.
“Transnational repression, $64 million in Chinese funding, and allegations of racial profiling have contributed to a pervasive culture of silence at Stanford and beyond,” the student outlet reported.
As foreign threats continue to ripple through American academia, President Trump’s effort to reassert controls over international student programs is setting up a showdown between a long-politicized education establishment and a White House determined to put national security over academic convenience.