Smaller institutions could be far more at risk than elite counterparts as Donald Trump expands his battle with universities beyond the Ivy League, experts have warned.

The Republican administration has turned its attention to less well-known ¡°targets¡± in recent weeks, particularly as part of?investigations designed to supposedly ¡°stop the spread of antisemitism¡±.

The presidents of Haverford College, DePaul University and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo?were called in front of the House Education Committee earlier this month, in echoes of hearings that previously led to the resignations of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

While?Harvard has of late led an attempted fightback against federal government interference in higher education, less wealthy universities could struggle if?they also find themselves in the spotlight.

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¡°An artefact of the highly publicised institutional cases in progress is that it does create the prospect, albeit vague and uncertain, that any college or university could be subject to review,¡± said John R. Thelin, university research professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, highlighting a threat to private universities with selective admissions in particular.

¡°Small colleges, particularly those with modest endowments, will have difficulty paying for the expertise and services that would provide an effective response to the federal allegations and investigations.¡±

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It was also recently announced that three institutions in Denver will be subject to a year-long investigation by the federal government over their handling of a pro-Palestinian encampment last year.

Robert Kelchen, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said the Trump administration will keep investigating colleges and universities for as long as there is a perceived political benefit to doing so.

¡°The next logical targets are somewhat less prestigious private universities and flagship public universities in blue states, as I don¡¯t expect red-state public universities to be targets of investigations. The question then becomes how long there will be political benefits if the targets are lesser known and generate less publicity.¡±

Kelchen said the federal government is yet to turn to its primary leverage and target student financial aid, because although it would ¡°devastate¡± many institutions it would directly affect more students.

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For Nicholas Hillman, a professor in the school of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the likelihood of smaller colleges resisting pressure from the government was down to ¡°a combination of economics and politics¡±.

¡°Do they have the resources and do they have the political will? Harvard has both, at least for now. My impression is the fewer financial resources, the less likely an institution is to resist¡­even if the political will is there."

However, Patricia McGuire, president of?Trinity Washington University, said, given that smaller universities do not have the large federal contracts that the Trump administration is using to impose severe economic sanctions on the major institutions, they may escape serious harm.

¡°While investigations are economically burdensome for every college that must cooperate with the process, those costs alone will not harm institutions in the same way that withdrawal of billions in federal research grants can harm the main protagonists in this ongoing drama.¡±

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And with more than 3,000 higher education institutions in the US, many protests will not be on the radar of the White House if they were not covered in the national press, said?Elizabeth Shermer, professor of history at Loyola University Chicago.?

But she said presidents who signed?a recent statement from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)?that denounced the ¡°political interference now endangering American higher education¡± may raise attention, and that some colleges will be targeted purely because of the ¡°personal animus¡± of people in Trump¡¯s inner circle.

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¡°Will public outrage be enough to prompt Congress to act once it goes beyond the Ivy League? Going after schools that have served and still serve many more people could spark more [outrage], especially schools deeply embedded in the surrounding community,¡± she added.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com