Overview
- All 12 members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board resigned en masse on June 11 to protest what they described as unlawful political interference in award decisions.
- Darren Beattie’s public diplomacy office has rejected awards for research in areas including climate change, migration, gender studies, race and various sciences and is reviewing about 1,200 approved foreign scholar applications.
- In their resignation letter, board members said these actions breached the Fulbright statute by undermining academic freedom, free speech and the program’s merit-based, bipartisan structure.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal would cut funding for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs from $691 million to $50 million, threatening the program’s future exchanges.
- Senator Jeanne Shaheen and other lawmakers warned that continued political intervention could damage U.S. diplomatic influence and the program’s global reputation.