Shalini Randeria, president and rector of the Central European University (CEU), has warned that the Trump administration is working from the ¡°playbook¡± of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb¨¢n, describing the legal uncertainty faced by US universities as the government¡¯s ¡°intended outcome¡±.

Now based in Vienna, CEU was forced out of Budapest after the Fidesz government implemented a series of legal measures in 2017, which the European Court of Justice later ruled were ¡°incompatible with EU law¡±.

The 2020 ruling came too late for CEU, however, which had relocated to Austria the previous year. ¡°That¡¯s one of the problems of using law courts to stop the machinations of soft authoritarian regimes,¡± Randeria told 51³Ô¹Ï. ¡°Courts are slow and unpredictable, even though we had a very strong case.¡±

¡°There was a lot of legal uncertainty created by Orb¨¢n, and this is exactly the same playbook which is being used by the Trump administration,¡± she said, pointing to the court battle between Harvard and the government as an example. ?

51³Ô¹Ï

¡°They introduce a flurry of laws and administrative measures, that universities can then go to court against. It¡¯s unclear what will happen at the end, and this chaos and unpredictability is really the intended outcome.¡±

Randeria described legal uncertainty as particularly problematic for organisations that work to ¡°long-term cycles¡±, such as universities. ¡°It makes any rational decision-making, any financial planning or academic planning impossible,¡± she said.

51³Ô¹Ï

¡°When we admit students now, we admit them to complete a four-year degree, or a two-year master¡¯s, or a doctoral degree in five or six years. We are thinking and planning way ahead. If you don¡¯t know what the legal status of your institution will be in two years, you cannot in good faith advertise to and recruit students.¡±

Attracting faculty, too, requires long term certainty, Randeria continued: ¡°When you have this sword of Damocles hanging over your head, not knowing whether you¡¯ll be able to run the university efficiently and fairly on a consistent basis, it¡¯s very, very difficult to recruit faculty.¡± ?

After the ¡°traumatic period¡± of forced relocation, CEU has ¡°performed really well academically¡±, Randeria said, securing ¡°competitive research funding both within Austria and, as usual, within Europe¡±.

Obtaining consortium grants, such as those , has ¡°allowed us to anchor ourselves in Austria, not in competition with the very vibrant academic scene here and its research institutions and universities, but in partnership with them¡±. The university did not lose any faculty in the move, she noted, while ¡°recruitment and admission numbers didn¡¯t fall¡±.

51³Ô¹Ï

Nevertheless, Orb¨¢n¡¯s pursuit of the CEU ¨C part of a larger campaign against its philanthropist founder George Soros ¨C has yet to run its course, Randeria said. Fidesz¡¯s proposed ¡°national sovereignty¡± law, which would allow the government to penalise or shut down organisations receiving ¡°foreign funding¡±, ¡°could be used against CEU¡¯s continuing activities¡± in Budapest, she warned, namely research conducted at the CEU Democracy Institute.

US vice-president J.D. Vance has expressed explicit admiration for Orb¨¢n¡¯s higher education policy, calling his approach, which has also seen control of state universities transferred to government-aligned foundations, ¡°the closest that conservatives have ever gotten to successfully dealing with left-wing domination of universities¡±.

¡°What right-wing populists all over have done is stamp universities as ivory towers of elite privilege, and this is not true,¡± Randeria said. In response, ¡°we need to mobilise public support on a very large scale.¡±

¡°As institutions, we need to put a lot more focus on outreach and communication,¡± she told THE, with the goal of ensuring the public ¡°really understand what universities do, and why they are the backbone of a functioning liberal democracy¡±.

51³Ô¹Ï

US universities must ¡°not let themselves be divided one against the other,¡± Randeria advised. ¡°I don¡¯t think you can protect yourself as an institution on your own. It has to be a collective resistance against this kind of intervention into university autonomy and academic freedom.¡±

¡°One should be prepared for some very, very strong institutional solidarity of universities across the board.¡±

51³Ô¹Ï

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com