(Adnkronos) – All members of the board of directors of the Fullbright Foreign Scholarship, the famous scholarship program created by the United States immediately after the end of the Second World War to promote cultural and academic exchanges, have resigned, denouncing political interference by the Trump administration. In a statement, it is announced that the board has decided to resign “rather than support unprecedented actions that we consider inadmissible with respect to the law”.
This action, the statement continues, “compromises the national interests and integrity of the USA and undermines the mission and mandate that Congress established for the Fulbright program almost 80 years ago.” In particular, The Hill reports, the fact that the Trump administration, in particular the State Department, has “usurped the board’s authority” by denying the scholarship to “a substantial group of individuals” who were among the 1200 foreign scholarship recipients selected is denounced.
“We believe that these actions not only contradict the statute but are antithetical to the mission and values of Fullbright, including freedom of expression and academic freedom,” the statement concludes.
