All twelve members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned over President Donald Trump’s crackdown on the broken foreign student system that’s taken over America’s colleges and universities.
In a public letter, the board announced it had “voted overwhelmingly” to resign.
“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 letter said.
The board claimed it had followed the law through both Democratic and Republican administrations.
“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 board continued.
However, they assert that the Trump administration has gone too far this time.
“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,” the board said.
The board claimed the administration’s actions “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.”
The board claims they have repeatedly raised these issues, only to have them ignored.
“We have raised these legal issues and our strong objections with senior administration officials on multiple occasions, including in writing,” the board 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.”
Meanwhile, Trump officials have pointed to a growing national security threat that many say the Fulbright program has enabled for far too long.
Just this week, a Chinese national, Chengxuan Han, was caught trying to smuggle biological material into the U.S.
“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.
“The FBI has zero tolerance for those who violate federal law and remains unwavering in our mission to protect the American people,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said. “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.”
The University of Michigan had brought Han in as a visiting scholar to work in one of its labs.
According to the “Detroit Free Press,” Han shipped multiple packages to the U.S. — one went to an active lab member, and another was addressed to a faculty or staff member at the university.
In a court filing, Han admitted what she was sending.
She said it was “nematode growth medium (NGM) (in the petri dishes) and plasmids (in the envelope).”
And last month, the “Stanford Review” exposed an alleged network of Chinese espionage on its own 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 paper reported.
