All but One Member of Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board Resign

Eleven of the twelve members of the board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Program resigned in defense of principles undermined by political interference from Donald Trump’s regime.

Carmen Estrada-Schaye is the only remaining board member.

The Fulbright–Hays Act of 1961 created the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to manage the federal government’s most prestigious international education and cultural exchange program. It is non-partisan. It awards about 8000 grants annually, based on merit, to bring foreign scholars from 150 countries into the USA or sent USA academics abroad to study, teach and carry out research.

A number of Fulbright alumni have later become heads of state or government or received Nobel or Pulitzer prizes.

Board members are appointed by the President for a three year term. They meet quarterly. They set policies and procedures, and they select scholarship recipients. According to a State Department policy brief, the Act that created the board gave it “final responsibility for the choice of all participants in educational exchange programs.”

The joint resignation letter from board members says:

At the program’s inception, Congress clearly specified that the Fulbright Board has final approval authority of applicants, which occurs after an exhaustive and deliberate, year-long process led by non-partisan career staff at the State Department and Embassies around the world.

The letter says the government denied Fulbright awards to a “substantial number” of recipients chosen for 2025-2026 and put another1200 foreign Fulbright recipients through “an unauthorized review process and could reject more.”

Scholarships denied are in architecture, biology, engineering, agriculture, animal sciences, medical sciences, music and history. The letter accuses the regime of “injecting politics and ideological mandates into the Fulbright program.”

Our resignation is not a decision we take lightly. But to continue to serve after the Administration has consistently ignored the Board’s request that they follow the law would risk legitimizing actions we believe are unlawful and damage the integrity of this storied program and America’s credibility abroad. Indeed, the erosion of the Fulbright program weakens America and our national security interests. Institutions and the rule of law matter and have distinguished our country for almost 250 years.

Click here for more details.

Click here to read the resignation letter.