• 148 colleges have implemented policies to remain neutral on political issues by the end of 2024, mostly following the Hamas attack on Israel, as political pressure rises on campuses.

• The Trump administration has threatened to withdraw federal funding from universities not taking action against antisemitism, including a $400 million cut from Columbia University.

• Critics argue that neutrality policies sidestep difficult debates on contentious issues like the Middle East conflict.

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Instead of speaking out on hot-button issues, more colleges are issuing policies to stay silent as political pressure ramps up on campuses across the country. According to a new report from the Heterodox Academy, a group that has been critical of progressive ideology on college campuses, 148 colleges adopted “institutional neutrality” policies by the end of 2024.

All but eight of those policies were adopted after the Hamas attack against Israel.

The universities are also adopting the policies at a time when the Trump administration has moved to pull funding from universities for not doing enough to crack down on antisemitism.

The administration announced Friday, March 7, that it was withdrawing $400 million from Columbia University and said it’s looking to do the same at other universities. 

During the week of March 2, the president threatened to punish any school that permits “illegal” protests following an executive order he signed on his 10th day in office combating antisemitism and focusing on what he called anti-Jewish racism at “leftist” universities.

A few days later he announced a task force to carry out the mandate.

Where do states stand with university neutrality policies?

About 4 out of 5 colleges that adopted neutrality policies are public, and they are facing scrutiny from state lawmakers. 

Several states, including Texas and Utah and North Carolina, ordered their public universities to adopt the policies while others, like Tennessee, are considering it.

Most of the new policies apply to senior administrators, like college presidents, while others also include academic departments. 

Critics of the neutrality movement argue administrators are just sidestepping difficult debates on the Middle East conflict and are worried about going against donors and lawmakers.

The American Association of University Professors recently issued a statement on neutrality stating the idea “is neither a necessary condition for academic freedom nor categorically incompatible with it.”

When did ‘institutional neutrality’ begin?

Statement neutrality originally started at the University of Chicago in 1967 with a document called “The Kalven Report” that explains the university’s neutral stance on politics. It was created in response to concerns about the involvement of universities in political activism.