College professors stage NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Teach-In on Federal Government’s Higher Education cuts

“Our ability to train the next generation of STEM professionals is in jeopardy,” said Maia Bailey, a Providence College biology professor. “We have lost funds to help us teach more effectively..."

All videos and photos on this page are by Phil Eil. From a press release:

College professors from Brown University, Providence College, the University of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island School of Design, and other local institutions staged a “mobile teach-in” in Downtown Providence during Saturday’s NCAA Men’s Basketball games at the Amica Mutual Pavillion. Faculty drew attention to the Trump Administration’s budget cuts that threaten higher education in Rhode Island and on the campuses now competing in the tournament.

“There won’t be any winners when it comes to the massive reductions of research funding and financial aid befalling schools like Purdue, Arkansas, McNeese, and St. John’s,” said Seth Rockman, a Brown University history professor and organizer of the event. “These institutions may no longer be able to conduct transformative research or open doors to social mobility. This will be a disaster for our country.”

All eight of the institutions competing in Providence this week are at risk of losing millions in federal funding due to DOGE interference in the operations of the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, and other federal agencies. Purdue University, for example, may lose $70 million in funding from USAID. Cuts to federal financial aid may render St. John’s unaffordable to more than 30 percent of its students eligible for such support. Executive orders prohibiting institutional efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion have placed Clemson under federal investigation, resulting in last month’s termination of three teacher education programs at High Point University. “These aren’t ‘woke’ or elite schools,” observed Rockman. “Red state, blue state, big, small, public, private - it doesn’t matter. Everyone loses.”

Funding interruptions are also being felt locally in Rhode Island, with grants terminated or suspended in fields across the life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Undergraduate students pay the price. “Our ability to train the next generation of STEM professionals is in jeopardy,” said Maia Bailey, a Providence College biology professor taking part in the event. “We have lost funds to help us teach more effectively, and our students have lost important summer research experiences.”

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The goal of the teach-in was to publicize the threats facing colleges and urge sports fans to support their favorite schools.

“As the energy of March Madness makes clear, colleges contribute so much to American society,” explained Charlotte Roberts, a sociologist at Providence College. “It’s not just educating students to keep our workforce globally competitive; it’s carrying out research that improves our health, enhances technology, and secures our farms, forests, and fisheries. All of this is put at risk with the federal government canceling its contracts.”