Fulbright scholarship board resigns over Trump administration's review, denial of awards

All members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned over the Trump administration's review and denial of some of the prestigious, overseas scholarship awards this academic year.

In a statement posted to Substack on Wednesday, the 12 former board members said that they "voted overwhelmingly to resign from the board, rather than endorse unprecedented actions that we believe are impermissible under the law, compromise U.S. national interests and integrity, and undermine the mission and mandates Congress established for the Fulbright program nearly 80 years ago."

The prestigious scholarship program awards a select group of scholars and academics the opportunity to continue research abroad each year and is managed by the State Department, which conducts a "year-long process led by non-partisan career staff" in searching for and examining applicants, whom the independent Fulbright Board ultimately approves, according to the former board members' statement.

"However, the current administration has usurped the authority of the Board and denied Fulbright awards to a substantial number of individuals who were selected for the 2025-2026 academic year. The administration is also currently subjecting an additional 1,200 foreign Fulbright recipients to an unauthorized review process and could reject more.

"We believe these actions not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the Fulbright mission and the values, including free speech and academic freedom, that Congress specified in the statute," they argued.

The board's legacy "has depended on one thing above all: the integrity of the program’s selection process based on merit, not ideology, and its insulation from political interference. That integrity is now undermined," the former members said.

The White House pushed back on the former board members' arguments.

“President Trump, not the Fulbright Board, was elected by the American people to ensure all foreign policy initiatives align with our national interests,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Wednesday, according to The Hill newspaper.

A senior State Department official also argued the board isn't nonpartisan.

“The 12 members of the Fulbright Board were partisan political appointees of the Biden Administration. It’s ridiculous to believe that these members would continue to have final say over the application process, especially when it comes to determining academic suitability and alignment with President Trump’s Executive Orders,” the official said.

“The claim that the Fulbright Hayes Act affords exclusive and final say over Fulbright Applications to the Fulbright board is false. This is nothing but a political stunt attempting to undermine President Trump."