Since taking office, the Trump administration’s attacks on research and higher education have been relentless. Research funding and the legal status of international students have been the primary tools used to advance the administration’s agenda, which demands ideological fealty to the president’s priorities. The tactics are most directed at Harvard, where university researchers have been stripped of virtually all research funding, and, in a stunning move which cuts at the core educational mission of a university, the Department of Homeland Security has stripped Harvard of its authority to sponsor scholar visas, telling Harvard’s international students to transfer universities or leave the country. 

With its actions against Harvard, the administration has demonstrated its intention to crush universities  to enforce ideological compliance. Under the guise of combating antisemitism, terrorism and communism, it has made clear that it is willing to sacrifice American innovation in the form of research dollars and international talent.  This mirrors the strategies the administration has used to decimate the civil service and terrorize immigrant communities. This is an actively escalating situation that demands action and outcry. 

We urge you to take a stand and join together in fighting back.  Please join us at our rally this Friday, May 30, from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., at White Plaza to defend education, research and our international students. We will denounce the administration’s actions and demand that Stanford commits to protecting our international community. We will have faculty, students and community members speak about what is at stake and what you can do to make a difference. We will write letters to the university president, sign petitions, reach out to representatives, connect with community groups and find other ways to take action. Current groups sponsoring this event are the Stanford chapters of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Hands Off and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 

To international students, your caution to participate is warranted and understood. To all other members of the university, especially citizens, we have an obligation to come out and demonstrate that we of Stanford University do not tolerate these attacks. Talk to your organizations, societies, clubs, teams and friends, and encourage them to show their support. This is not partisan. This is about protecting our community and about defending the university as a safe space to pursue education and research.  

We’re living through a critical moment when we must care for the most vulnerable members of our own communities. Now more than ever we need to offer support to our international students, classmates, labmates, friends and loved ones. Even the small actions matter, like sending a simple check-in text to a friend that you haven’t spoken to in a while.

It is difficult to underestimate the urgency of this situation, which will likely worsen in the coming months. Summer is coming and non-citizen university members across the nation will return home to see their own families and loved ones, but come autumn will they be able to come back to our campus? For citizen university members, what kind of university will they find when they arrive for the start of fall quarter? While we wish this sponsorship revocation does not happen at Stanford, we have strong reason to believe it will. To prepare for this likely event, we must act now to deepen connections with others and strengthen ties within the community. This is one of the most powerful ways to support the mental wellbeing of ourselves and others during these challenging times. Such solidarity is essential to defend Stanford from increasingly dangerous threats to our people and values.  

Looking beyond the grounds of our campus, we have a national obligation to take action to defend our values and international community. Stanford University is high in the nation’s esteem. When people hear something comes from a Stanford student or researcher, they take notice. Through affiliation with this university, we have an implicit responsibility to lead. If the nation seems apathetic to the attacks on education and international students, it is in part because they have looked to Stanford and seen no action and heard no outcry from us.  

We need to act now and unite across departments, backgrounds and levels. It is imperative that we band together regardless of our position. In doing so, we gain incredible power. Let’s not cede that power to silence. Please join us on May 30, from 12 to 1:30 p.m. to make your voice heard!  

Emma Follman is a third year PhD candidate in the neurosciences graduate program. Remington Graham ‘26 is an undergraduate majoring in Engineering Physics. Lauren Tompkins, is an associate professor of physics and Vice President of the Stanford Chapter of the AAUP. They, along with others, are joining together under the banner of Stanford Alliance for Nonviolent Organization (SANO), which is an open coalition of campus groups, building more interconnectedness to better collaborate and confront the broad range challenges to higher education.