The Republican National Convention in July featured a variety of peculiar characters, from Marjorie Taylor Greene to Hulk Hogan, but as a college student, I found it most interesting that the event included University of North Carolina college students — fraternity members — as flag bearers. As a college student myself, this imagery surprised me and gave me pause. It has long been thought that college-educated and younger populations lean liberal, but the Republican Party is seeking to shift that narrative. However, Donald Trump has grievances against higher education and radical plans that would change the lives of every college student in the country. Whether you are a student, parent or faculty, Trump’s plan for universities will be one of the most devastating effects of his potential presidency.

Public universities might have seemed immune from Washington, but for the first time in many election cycles, higher education is on the chopping block, and students will be the first to feel the effects. Trump’s first term threatened many aspects of university life, such as free speech and campus diversity, but this time around his camp wants to take it further, warning that universities have “become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.”

In a campaign video, Trump said he wants to reclaim college accreditation from the “radical left” by imposing “real standards” on colleges. The administration will try to reimpose Western-centric education, punish Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, and pursue Department of Justice investigations into universities for racial discrimination, whether in admissions or hiring, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s ruling against race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Institutions would be subject to political agendas from the president.

Even private institutions will be targeted. Trump has called for taxing the endowment of universities for their “entire amount,” effectively bankrupting schools that engage in what he believes is misinformation. I attend Johns Hopkins University, and we are known for our federally funded research. In July, a groundbreaking paper from the university found that human genetics research, the backbone of many modern medical advances, has had a long-standing bias toward European ancestries. The paper’s principal researcher has received more than $400,000 in federal funds from the National Institutes of Health. Under a Trump administration, with conservative dogma insisting that systemic racism is a myth perpetuated by the left, would federal funding for my university dry up because we publish papers that call for diversity? I am terrified of how a Trump presidency will hinder my education and that of my fellow undergraduates. Universities are where cancer is being solved, new forms of energy are being discovered and the problems that every American faces are being tackled scholastically. Why should we restrict that for a political agenda?

Trump has boasted about cutting funds for DEI programs, but many close to him, such as those who authored Project 2025, go further and say they want research to align with conservative principles, meaning projects such as climate research will receive significantly less federal funding.

Trump still does not understand our model of universities — he consistently undervalues arts and humanities as shown by his effort to end federal arts and humanities funding. He called them “wasteful and unnecessary.”

There is certainly an argument for redistributing funds from expensive private universities like Johns Hopkins to public schools that educate more people at lower costs. But that is not Trump’s intention. He has advocated for using these billions in endowment taxes to create “the American Academy.” It would be a free online university run by the federal government. I think it’s obvious why stealing tax dollars from research institutions to create Trump University 2.0 is a terrible idea — it would decrease college enrollment, allow the federal government and Trump to control education and defraud millions of Americans just like Trump University did. Trump seeks to rob us of the traditional American college experience to inject right-wing bias into education.

Ahead of the 2020 election, 70% of college students planned to vote blue, according to pollsters. Now, according to an NBC News poll, Vice President Kamala Harris only leads Trump among that cohort 54% to 29%. A population once considered reliably Democratic is shifting to the right, and it could sway the results.

A second Trump presidency will change the lives of college students, whether you’re a neuroscience major participating in vaccine research or a sociology major looking to take an Islamic studies seminar. Universities will be forced to comply with despotic demands or go bankrupt. An undergraduate degree remains the best path into and beyond the middle class, and higher education creates scholars and leaders who are able to hold institutions accountable. Without such scholarship, our society is susceptible to dictatorship. This is what Republicans fear most — that people will be exposed to new ideas in college and reject their extreme platform. An uneducated populace benefits Republicans and authoritarians across the globe.

Voters invested in the future of this country should understand how Republicans seek to radically change it. I strongly encourage all students to vote, because this election has the potential to be the most consequential for higher education in American history. Trump’s philosophy, whether consistent with the truth or not, will be injected into places of learning. All voters should consider how they want the future leaders of America to be educated.

Neil Mahto is a sophomore studying chemistry and English literature at the Johns Hopkins University, where he’s the opinion editor of the student-run Johns Hopkins News-Letter.