America’s institutions of higher education have long been bastions of far-left ideologies that many critics have described as a form of indoctrination for young adults. Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, many college campuses have transformed into hotbeds of antisemitism.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has taken notice of the accelerating trend and recently unveiled a new platform in his campaign that would address what he sees as the root causes.
In a video posted to social media, he laid out a plan to eradicate “Marxist maniacs and lunatics” from the helm of colleges and universities while restoring an educational focus on “defending the American tradition.”
He also addressed the “absolutely exploding” cost of college tuition as an issue he will tackle if elected to serve a second term.
“While academics have been obsessed with indoctrinating America’s youth, the time has come to reclaim our once-great educational institutions from the radical left,” Trump asserted. “And we will do that.”
Part of his strategy to accomplish the ambitious goal involves revamping the accreditation system currently in place for such institutions.
“The accreditors are supposed to ensure that schools are not ripping off students and taxpayers, but they have failed totally,” he said.
Vowing to fire those he believes are undermining traditional American values, Trump added: “We will then accept applications for new accreditors who will impose real standards on colleges once again, and once and for all.”
Trump vows to "reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical left" by removing accreditation from colleges "dominated by Marxist maniacs" and directing civil rights investigations against schools involved in racial discrimination "under the guise of equity." pic.twitter.com/S8q6nJRt2Q
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) April 24, 2024
The new standards he plans to put into place for those accreditors, he explained, include “defending the American tradition and Western civilization, protecting free speech, eliminating wasteful administrative positions that drive up costs incredibly, removing all Marxist diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucrats, offering options for accelerated and low-cost degrees, providing meaningful job placement and career services and implementing college entrance and exit exams to prove that students are actually learning and getting their money’s worth.”
Those universities that “continue to engage in racial discrimination” after such policies are enacted, Trump concluded, would be subject to a federal civil rights investigation and could be “fined up to the entire amount of their endowment” with the proceeds being used, in part, “for restitution for victims of these illegal and unjust policies — policies that hurt our country so badly.”