On Thursday, April 17, hundreds of University of New Mexico students, faculty, staff and community members joined a walkout and rally in front of Scholes Hall to protest against President Donald Trump’s policies on higher education.
Faculty and student speakers discussed the graduate worker union, UNM’s changes to diversity, equity and inclusion and affirmative action policies, federal research funding cuts, academic freedom and free speech during the rally.
Various organizations were present at the rally, including the United Graduate Workers of UNM, United Academics at UNM, UNM Students for Justice in Palestine, UNM Leaders for Environmental Action and Foresight, Stand Up for Science and UNM Law Students Against Imperialism.
UA-UNM President Ernesto Longa said the walkout was part of a national day of action to call attention to the “unprecedented political attacks against higher ed by the Trump administration.”
According to a Coalition for Action in Higher Ed letter published in the Los Alamos Daily Post, over 170 actions took place on college campuses across the country Thursday.
“The Trump administration is using the threat of funding cuts to try to force conformity with their ideological agenda,” Longa said. “That effort is impacting people's academic freedom, and certainly is having a chilling effect on people's ability to speak out and to protest what's happening.”
Freshman Emit Brown said she participated in the walkout because she feels her tuition money is not benefitting her or her friends.
“Why should I go to class if my tuition money is being put into things that don't benefit us as students?" she asked. “When I'm hearing that our tuition money is going to Israel, or when they're trying to take away DEI protections, I don't want to work as hard as I should.”
Engineering faculty member Manel Martínez said he is primarily concerned about his international students.
“They are here legally, of course, but they can be banned from the country for any reason, like protesting against what's happening in Palestine now,” Martínez said.
On April 14, UNM President Garnett Stokes sent out a campus-wide email addressing the recent terminations of some UNM international student records. It remains unclear why these records were terminated.
“International students are vital members of our academic community and deserve clarity and fairness in how their statuses are determined,” the email reads. “UNM will continue to monitor developments closely and advocate for policies that uphold the principles of inclusion, equity, and respect.”
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Martínez said he feels UNM is “not doing anything as an institution” to “fight against the attacks on higher education” by the Trump administration.
He said his grant proposals, which he uses to pay his students, are being denied if they feature words like “DEI” or “climate change.”
The National Science Foundation is searching through research projects for words that violate Trump’s executive orders, according to the Washington Post. Some of these words include “equity,” “diversity” and “disability.”
“I have received messages from NSF saying that I had to remove words from my proposals, because otherwise they won't be considered for acceptance,” Martínez said.
In the April 14 email, Stokes wrote that the UNM administration is working to remain in compliance with all federal laws while remaining eligible for federal funding.
“I think faculty need to be at the forefront of trying to break down the kind of divisions between students and staff and faculty, and see that we're in a dangerous moment that requires us to really come together and face these attacks,” Longa said.
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa contributed reporting to this article.
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
