President Tate and every other SEC university president continue to fail their students and faculty by disregarding the assault on academic freedom.
On April 22, 2025, hundreds of universities signed a public letter condemning the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” of the Trump administration’s assault on academic freedom.
From private universities to technical schools and community colleges, presidents of these institutions defended their communities’ pursuit of knowledge and exchange of ideas. Meanwhile, LSU remains deafeningly silent.
LSU, like other state universities, relies on federal funding, conducting research to better the lives of those in the Southeast and around the world.
LSU leads agricultural studies to boost crop production for farmers throughout the region, provides coastal communities with the research needed to mitigate the impact of catastrophic hurricanes and coastal erosion, and investigates how petrochemicals affect the environment and people’s health in areas such as Cancer Alley.
President Tate detailed some of this groundbreaking research in opinion columns for Business Report and Industry Report. However, this is not enough in the face of President Trump’s continued assault and Gov. Jeff Landry’s senselessness.
Trump has signed over a hundred executive orders since January. Many of which target higher education. He has sought to end “illegal discrimination and end merit-based opportunity” by banning DEI policies.
He has taken aim at Title IX and gender-related policies through an executive order aimed at transgender people. He has targeted international students and faculty by restricting visas. He has ordered cuts to funding and an overhaul of the university accreditation process.
These directives have consequences: sixteen international students across the state could face deportation with their visas already revoked; LSU removed references to DEI on its website and will likely change scholarship programs that support diversity; and Louisiana universities could lose millions of dollars with slashes to National Institutes of Health. Each executive action individually could harm LSU, but collectively these could cause irrevocable damage and result in calamity.
To add insult to injury, the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, continues to attack LSU and higher education. Last year, the Louisiana Legislature passed a bill permitting the governor to directly appoint leaders for various boards and commissions, granting Landry power over several higher education boards. He has repeatedly waded into Twitter/X debates over professors’ speech.
From Robert “Bob” Mann to Ken Levy and Nicholas Bryner, Landry asked the University to punish professors for speaking out. In Levy’s trial, text messages showed Landry discussing the law professor with Scott Ballard, the chairman of LSU’s Board of Supervisors appointed by the governor.
Targeting professors inhibits learning, impedes research, and tarnishes the university’s reputation. Landry’s actions, like Trump’s, go beyond a personal vendetta and are direct assaults on academic freedom.
When scientists struggle to find funding and international students face potential deportation, education falters and research flounders. This will inevitably result in Louisiana, the Southeast, and the U.S. falling behind other countries, that can better produce innovative ideas and develop cutting-edge research because they did not fail to protect academic freedom.
President Tate must do more than pen an opinion piece. He should defend his faculty’s right to speak freely. He should have co-signed the letter condemning the Trump administration’s actions. He should lead the universities of the SEC to establish a coalition like the Big Ten’s Mutual Defense Compact.
Actions such as these would show the students, faculty, staff, and alumni he is concerned with academic freedom and safeguarding higher education, a cornerstone of American progress.
