Among the thousand introductions during the first week in college, amidst the hometowns and majors, is a question with an intriguing answer. “What brought you to Auburn?” Invariably, I heard about the programs students applied for, the beautiful campus or proximity to home. One of these responses, however, stood out: the occasional “I appreciate how conservative it is."
It was never the first response; it was an add-on to a string of more ordinary responses, but it was something these students valued. What did they mean? Perhaps it meant that there were a plethora of Christian organizations, or maybe it meant that they did not have to deal with protests against the values they held. Did it mean their professors strayed away from topics of sexuality, climate change or colonization?
The comment hinged on the idea that education is built on an ideology that defines truth, not the search for genuine knowledge through facts. It strikes me because it pertains not to the quality of education, but to the political climate a school inhabits. It is important to note that the majority of universities and schools are products of the culture and geography they inhabit. Most places of education hire teachers who are local and teach students who are nearby, leading to an intrinsic bias that is not always harmful. Despite this, the sentiment of choosing a conservative university reflects the tone of current politics.
On Feb. 27, the Pentagon released a memo stating that the department is “strategically refocusing the education of its senior officers," revising a list of “elite institutions," excluding Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale, in order to “ensure our leaders receive a more rigorous and relevant education to better prepare them.” Auburn has been listed in a group of potential replacement schools.
Furthermore, in 2025, Trump froze over $2 billion of federal funding going toward Harvard, on grounds of failing to address antisemitism or hire based on new DEI policies, though it was later ruled unlawful. He aims to dismantle the Department of Education, the primary agency responsible for federal education funds that help pay for students’ higher education. This is at a time when higher education is more expensive than ever before.
The idea has local impacts as well. Last year, Alabama passed the Alabama Act 2024-34 (SB 129), which bans not only DEI initiatives, but also "divisive concepts." The majority of these concepts concern race and sexuality in public education, including universities.
These decisions reflect a turning point in education. As politicians in power, such as President Trump and Pete Hegseth, are attacking the institutions that discredit them, an important question is being asked: Can you avoid teaching an ideology, or does every curriculum have an inherent bias, and is it up to students to choose which one they prefer? Are students forced to choose a method of political thought and pursue it, or fall into whichever university they choose?
For students who are dependent on scholarships and federal aid, will they be taught based on a political thought they did not choose? It is especially relevant for the humanities, which have always handled these divisive subjects.
Though it has not always been the case, education today primarily aims to train students in critical thinking, democratic virtues and applicable workplace skills. It has sometimes even served as a balance to politics, sometimes instilling patriotic values, and sometimes pushing science and curiosity past comfortable bounds. It had never been only for job preparation; in fact, it began as a primarily religious system. The role of education, for the past 100 years, has been to cultivate free-thinking, democratically minded, capable individuals. Political discourse and progress, then, are not negatives but proof of concept.
Today, however, in the face of these policies, there is a choice. Will universities continue to push for diversity of thought and method, or will education become an extension of the political climate of our country?
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