Fulbright board quits over Trump admin scholarship meddling

All Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board Has resigned from what he said on Wednesday mingling from the Trump administration in the authority of the Board of Directors to grant scholarships.

The board of directors of 12 members, in a statementsaid the State Department, which manages the scholarship program, had denied the Fulbright prices “to a significant number of people selected for the 2025-2026” school year.

“The administration also subjects 1,200 beneficiaries of Fulbright foreign additional to an unauthorized examination process and could reject more,” the board of directors said in its press release, which was published on Sublack, and first reported by The New York Times.

“We believe that these actions do not only contradict status, but are contrary to the Fulbright mission and values, including freedom of expression and academic freedom, which Congress specified in law,” said the board of directors.

Jed Katz, chairman of the board of directors and managing director of Javelin Venture Partners, referred CNBC to the declaration when he was asked about his resignations and the other members.

Like all other members of the board of directors, Katz was appointed to the panel by the former president Joe Biden.

The other members of the council who resign include people who served in the administration of Biden, including Mala Adiga, who was deputy assistant of Biden, the former assistant chief of the White House Jen O’malley Dillon, who presided over the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris in 2024, and the former speech of Biden, Vinay Reddy.

“In force immediately, the members of the board of directors of Fulbright Foreign Brasship Mandated by the Congress voted massively to resign from the Council, rather than approving unprecedented shares which, in our opinion, are inadmissible under the law, compromise American national interests and integrity, and undergo the mission and the mandates of the Congress for the Fulbright program declared the Council in its declaration.

“At the creation of the program, the Congress clearly specified that the Fulbright Board of Directors has the final approval authority for candidates, which occurs after an exhaustive and deliberate process, led by one year by non -partisan career staff in the Department of State and Embassies around the world,” said the board of directors.

A senior State Department official, in a statement at CNBC, said: “The 12 members of the Fulbright Board of Directors were appointments supported by the Biden administration.”

“It is ridiculous to believe that these members would continue to have a final speech on the process of demand, especially with regard to the determination of academic relevance and alignment with the executive orders of President Trump,” said the official.

“The assertion that the Fulbright Hayes Act grants exclusive and said final on Fulbright’s requests to the Fulbright Board of Directors is false. It is nothing other than a political blow that tries to undermine President Trump.”