President Donald Trump got some support from what many believe is an unlikely source when CNN data analyst Harry Enten confirmed what the commander-in-chief has been saying all along about the state of higher education in the U.S.
During a segment this week, Enten said that polls overwhelmingly show Americans agree with the president in his assertion that colleges and universities have a liberal bias.
“One question lingers is, how do the American people feel about this? CNN’s Harry Enten is looking into it and finding some clues. What are you looking at to gauge this question?” CNN anchor Kate Bolduan said to begin the segment.
“Yeah, I think going into this, I think a lot of Americans thought that higher ed needed a nice kick in the rear end. What am I talking about here? Well, why don’t we take a look at high confidence in higher education? You go back a decade ago, 57% of Americans had high confidence in higher education,” the data analyst said.
“Look at where we are now. That number has plummeted, plummeted, as of last year down to 36%. We’re talking about a 36-point drop among Republicans specifically. Get this: 68% of Americans said that higher education was on the wrong track. So it’s a question of whether or not people agree with Trump’s tactics, but they definitely agree with him on the idea that there is a problem with higher ed overall,” he said.
“One thing you’ve heard from President Trump and many Republican allies for quite some time is accusing colleges and universities across the country of not being a friendly place for conservatives, if you will. How did the American public feel?” the anchor said.
“Yeah. So, you know, do colleges have a liberal bias? I think that’s really the question here. And what we see in polling after polling after polling is that the plurality say, yes, overall, look at that. Forty five percent of Americans overall agree with the idea that colleges have a liberal bias. Just 24% disagree with that idea,” Enten said.
“Look among Republicans, hello! Sixty-seven percent of Republicans agree that colleges have a little bias. This is why Donald Trump is so emphatic and so wanting to take on this fight, because he knows that Republicans hate universities, hate the administrations, believe they have a liberal bias, and in fact the plurality of Americans overall agree with the idea, agree with Donald Trump, that colleges are in fact a place where bias reigns,” he said.
In March, Columbia University ceded to the demands of President Trump and his administration after it withheld $400 million in funding after the institution refused to effectively deal with gross antisemitism on campus.
The university agreed to institute a mask ban and to allow campus police to make arrests at what have become increasingly combative anti-Israel protests, The New York Post reported.
The school is also bringing on new leadership to examine the curriculum in the Middle East, South Asian and African Studies department, and Center for Palestine Studies, the report said.
Katrina Armstrong, the interim president of the university, penned a memo to students and staff, saying that the changes were to make school safer for all students, though she did not specifically mention the Jewish students.
“This past year has been one of enormous progress, where our community of thoughtful faculty, students, and stakeholders has shaped a principled and methodical approach to meeting the moment’s challenges,” she said in the memo posted to the school’s website.
“Our response to the government agencies outlines the substantive work we’ve been doing over the last academic year to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus,” she said.