How can Canada benefit from Trump’s attacks on US higher ed?

While Canadian post-secondary institutions are weathering their own massive fiscal storms due to IRCC caps on international student enrolment, and long-time funding shortages and tuition freezes, spare a thought for our colleagues south of the border.

Several top U.S. universities, including Princeton and the University of California system, have announced hiring freezes in response to spending cuts from the Trump regime. Johns Hopkins University is laying off over 2,000 employees after losing significant funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. These drastic measures are occurring amidst federal investigations into universities for allegedly failing to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests last spring.

Now, in a major move against high-profile universities, the Trump regime has cancelled roughly US$400 million in federal grants to Columbia University, accusing the institution of antisemitism. Columbia has responded with policy changes, including restrictions on demonstrations and a review of its Middle East curriculum.

University leaders are expressing alarm over the regime’s aggressive actions, which they believe threaten academic freedom, democratic traditions, and the global research leadership of American academia. This broader crackdown is also raising anxiety for international students, as some have been detained or deported. The toxic environment is causing declining international applications to U.S. universities, and potential tax increases on university endowments are further exacerbating these institution’s financial worries.

For Canadian researchers and institutions, who have collaborated freely with their U.S. counterparts for decades, this academic chill is both unsettling and a threat to ongoing research partnerships and funding. For many American professors, it may be worrisome enough to trigger serious thoughts about abandoning the increasingly polarized, partisan and authoritarian nation. 

Yet while that might suggest a potential for Canadian “brain-gain” as a result of America’s democratic upheavals, there is little space or budget within current Canadian academia to absorb a large influx of professors (or engineers, etc.) fleeing the U.S. strife. Instead, we may see other nations, like France, offering “intellectual asylum” to researchers seeking safe harbour.

As Canada heads into a federal election that grapples with looming threats to our economic health and sovereignty, it’s worthwhile for party leaders to consider how they hope to position Canadian higher ed for the next generation. Do we want to be known for an underfunded system unable to absorb either bright profs or students, or as a Northern Light–a global beacon of innovative, equitable and sustainable learning? 

Elbows up, Canada.