US universities after the midterms | The universities are breathing a sigh of relief

Democratic candidates Bobby Pulido, James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa sing together at the end of the campaign rally on October 25, 2026 in Weslaco, Texas. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP On election day there was a wait-and-see, slightly tense mood in the capital. The legendary election watch party in the "Union Pub", right next to the US Capitol, was well attended, but in many other bars that broadcast the counts on Capitol Hill, the crowds were limited. “We’re just fed up,” says Ed, who is only following the election coverage with one eye at the “Barrel” whiskey bar a few blocks away. »For many, DC is the far away capital. But we live here and have danger right on our doorstep. On the one hand, he is referring to the attempted storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and on the other hand, to the National Guard that is still present everywhere in the city. Trump sent her to the city in 2025 against the wishes of the Washington mayor, which led to bitter disputes. Signs reading “Free DC” are omnipresent in front yards all over the city; this is a topic that concerns people in DC.

But although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expanded the deployment of the National Guard in DC shortly before the election, the issue no longer seems to play a role nationwide. Just like another that made waves last year: the Trump administration's frontal attack on universities in the USA. Trump cut billions in funding and tried to force Ivy League universities in particular to change their curricula and stop DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) measures to promote minorities. The culture warriors of the MAGA movement see this as a form of discrimination - against heterosexual white people. Trump cut funding for DEI measures, but also for climate research and other undesirable research areas. In an ad hoc move, the government canceled visas for many international students and made it more difficult to issue new visas.

Universities are one of the Trump administration's favorite enemies.

Universities are one of the Trump administration's favorite enemies. Earlier this year, Hegseth called universities “hotbeds of toxic indoctrination.” Vice President J.D. Vance had already described professors as “the enemy” in a speech in 2021. There was a lot of excitement last year, but it has now died down. The attacks continue: In October, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced changes to the “Optional Practical Training” program. The program allows international students to work in the USA for up to twelve months. Previously, there was a processing fee of $500. DHS now wants universities to pay $70,000 per person.

However, university politics played a minor role in the election campaign. Many Democratic candidates tried to avoid the culture wars associated with the issue. University policy issues were primarily treated as economic questions: it was about the affordability of studying and new regulations for student loans, which are often exorbitant in the USA.

In Michigan, one of the states particularly hotly contested in the midterms, both the Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives, Will Lawrence, clearly criticized the government's interference in academic freedom and spoke out in favor of protecting freedom of expression and university research. Both won.

The university union American Association of University Professors, which supported candidates for the first time in its history and spoke out in favor of both Lawrence and El-Sayed, sees the result as a “mission to defend higher education as a public good, to protect academic freedom, and to promote accessible, affordable and debt-free higher education.”

However, it is questionable how much the new members of Congress can actually change. Many of the attacks on colleges have taken the form of executive orders that allow Trump to bypass Congress. The result of the midterms changes this little. At the same time, Congress's legislative powers are limited by the president's veto power. While none of the previous decisions can be reversed, the new Democratic majority in Congress makes it possible to block future government legislation and make ongoing projects more difficult. This applies, for example, to the abolition of the Department of Education pushed forward by the Trump administration.

Through budget policy, the Democrats can also establish clear guidelines for the use of funding so that it cannot be arbitrarily canceled, as happened in 2025. Several designated MPs also spoke out in favor of setting up investigative committees, for example into Trump's interference in university policy matters and the sometimes unfounded cuts in funding. Thanks to the majority in Congress, impeachment proceedings could now also be initiated.

However, faster and more visible changes could occur in the states. Higher education policy is primarily a matter for the states and many of the interventions in freedom of teaching took place there. Last November, the state-run Texas A&M University issued a regulation that prohibits the teaching of “race and gender ideology.” At the beginning of the year, the university made headlines because it banned philosophy professor Martin Peterson from reading "The Banquet" by Plato with his students due to the regulation.

Texas now has a Democratic governor for the first time in 30 years. Gina Hinojosa is the first Latina to lead the state. Democrats are now also the governors in Ohio and Wisconsin, two other states in which there has been significant intervention in the curricula. You can undo many of the restrictions. Karma Chávez, a professor of Latin American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, told University World News that Hinojosa could immediately "issue an order stating that any censorship measures that the various institutions - including Texas Tech, the University of North Texas and Texas A&M - have implemented - are no longer permitted." This would prevent universities from simply banning teaching on gender, racism and sexuality and make it clear that such interventions violate academic freedom. Like many of her colleagues, Chávez is cautiously optimistic that the midterms herald better times for US universities.

Back in the “Barrel,” it was the results in Texas that made Ed forget his cynicism. When Gina Hinojosa's victory was announced later that evening and then James Talarico won the race for the Senate seat, he could hardly believe it. »Of course I was hoping that the Democrats would take back the Senate. But hope has been elusive in recent years. And now this. It’s just historic.”

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