‘How we treat guests’: Fulbright cuts and collateral damage
As World War II ground to a halt, the newly elected U.S. senator from Arkansas, J. William Fulbright, sought to find a way for the United States to foster a durable peace and help create a world that was governed by reason.
Fulbright was shocked by the carnage of the war, frightened by the power of atomic weapons and deeply concerned by the aggressiveness of the Soviet Union. Unlike many of his isolationist colleagues in the Senate who believed the U.S. could shelter behind two oceans, Fulbright believed Americans must engage with the world.
He had studied at Oxford, thanks to a Rhodes scholarship, and wanted to create a program like the Rhodes scholarships that would send Americans abroad to learn about the world and send scholars from foreign countries to America to learn about the nation that would emerge from the ashes of World War II as the leader of the liberal democracies.
The question was how to pay for it and the answer was the sale of the vast amounts of surplus military equipment abroad at the war’s end that could fund a program of scholarly exchange that would forever take the name of its creator. Signed into law in 1946 by President Truman, the Fulbright scholarship program has been the classic example of beating swords into plowshares.
In recent days there have been reports that American Fulbright scholars abroad and international Fulbright scholars studying, researching and teaching in America have received notices that their stipends have been “paused.” However, their rent payments and need to buy groceries have not paused. This impacts thousands of American students and professors currently overseas.
One scholar from South Asia studying in Montana told the Washington Post, “I feel extremely disrespected. This is not how we treat our guests in our culture.” He now regrets turning down a scholarship to the U.K. to take the Fulbright.
There are several things going on here. First, is the chaos unleashed by the Musk team who largely don’t understand and don’t care about the implications of what they are doing. They were charged with reducing the size of government and that is what they are going to do. If there is collateral damage to U.S. citizens and our relationships — tough. Their rationalizations — to the extent they exist — are often falsehoods piled atop tropes.
Second, the Fulbright program is just the kind of thing that so-called “liberal elites” support and if they are for it, then many people in the Trump orbit want to destroy it. This is not conservatism. This is an exercise in “owning the libs” — we win, and you lose.
Third, and this is much graver, is President Trump’s desire to push the boundaries of executive power and test certain ultraconservative theories known as “impoundment.”
President Nixon’s attempt to withhold funding authorized by Congress led to the passage of the Impoundment Control Act in 1974. Title X of the Act established strict procedures for the executive branch to follow when proposing delays or cancellations of congressionally approved funding. Those procedures are now being violated with impunity by the Trump Administration, and people like Fulbright students are among the many victims.
Court fights are ongoing, but even when the Trump administration loses a case, there is a great deal of foot-dragging or outright defiance of court orders that is leading to a constitutional crisis. And the GOP-led Congress’s reaction? Ha!
Given the president’s modus operandi, one understands why he wants the power to withhold or to grant funds as leverage to reward allies and punish enemies. It is no wonder his governing style has been likened to that of a mafia don.
• Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86. His new book “American Dreams: The Story of the Cyprus Fulbright Commission” is available from Amazon.com.