A month has passed since former President Donald Trump won the presidential election and the Middlebury community began discussions surrounding the implications of his return to office. Trump’s victory has sparked concerns among college faculty about the future of higher education, with specific focus on environmental studies, the study of race and gender, and politics and international affairs.
One of the key issues in academia surrounding the Trump presidency has been his rhetoric on banning the discussion of race and gender in K-12 schools. Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Laurie Essig warned that while a nationwide gender studies ban is uncertain, some institutions are already preparing to resist the Trump administration’s broad attacks on gender and race theory in the education field as a whole.
“When political regimes get into place that ban books and make ideas dangerous, we should all be worried, not just those of us in Gender Studies,” Essig wrote in an email to The Campus. “This is an authoritarian turn since it means outlawing certain forms of knowledge, thinking, and speaking.”
Although Middlebury can be influenced by changes in the national political environment, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation Sarah Stroup said she believes the college is unlikely to experience dramatic changes to the curriculum under the new administration.
“We’re a private institution and in a blue state. Our governor Phil Scott is a Republican but not a Trump or MAGA fan, so we’re kind of isolated from these,” Stroup wrote in an email to The Campus.
Stroup also shared that Trump’s return to the White House might affect her research field — humanitarian relief and human rights international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) — based on policies during his previous term.
“In his prior term, we saw substantial reductions in support for UN aid agencies and the return of the ‘global gag rule’ (limiting aid to groups that provide reproductive access),” Stroup wrote, adding that aid for Palestinians from the United Nations will likely be a major target at the United Nations.
Among his other comments on higher education and international issues, Trump has repeatedly threatened to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), claiming that the department is responsible for “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material.”
Associate Professor of Education Studies Jonathan Miller-Lane acknowledged that while outright eliminating the department is unfeasible and unlikely, he believes the loss of jobs there will impact people’s lives and careers.
“If you were to eliminate these jobs in the DOE you would lose important data collection and oversight regarding whether schools are complying with federal anti-discrimination laws,” Miller-Lane wrote in an email to The Campus. “I think everyone in any field, after any election, attends to how that election might shape their future.”
Miller-Lane also explained how his field of education is particularly liable to scrutiny from politicians.
“If we understand that education involves the ‘transmission of culture’ and not only ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’ we can understand why education can become such a volatile issue,” Miller-Lane wrote, citing historian Bernard Bailyn. “Schools are often battlegrounds where we argue about who we think we are as a community and a nation.”
Stroup also shared a broad concern about the current higher education system in the national discourse.
“It’s like a political football. Higher education has become politicized, to the dismay of many of us in the field,” Stroup wrote in an email to The Campus.
In addition to his plans to reform the American education system, Trump has called for reversing most restrictions on carbon emissions and repealing the Inflation Reduction Act passed under the Biden administration in 2022.
Chris Klyza, professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies emphasized that despite mounting threats to climate policy, constitutional checks and balances still provide safeguards.
“We've seen this movie before, so we'll see what he tries to do. The biggest changes, I think, are going to be limited just by what's going on in Congress,” Klyza said, referring to the future Trump administration. He believes that while significant budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of the Interior may occur, fundamental changes to law are unlikely.
“Best case scenario from an environmental perspective, is they're not going to be able to accomplish much, but there's going to be nothing positive happening for four years,” Klyza said. “Climate change is an issue where every day that we're not moving forward, things get worse.”
Across disciplines, the next four years will be crucial in shaping the course of different academic disciplines in light of the shifting political climate. Miller-Lane said he hopes that despite the varying opinions held by students and faculty across campus, Middlebury will continue to offer a welcoming space for rich conversations.
“If we so choose, schools can be places where we collaborate, rather than battle, for the purpose of embodying the principles of a diverse, inclusive, democratic republic and fostering learning environments in which all students can thrive,” Miller-Lane wrote. “The choice is always ours.”
Rosella Graham '25 (she/her) is a News Editor.
Rosella is an International Politics & Economics major and Spanish minor from San Mateo, California. She spent her junior year in Madrid and outside of The Campus she enjoys co-hosting a radio show and playing lacrosse with friends.
