Football is no substitute for Freedom

The SEC may have spirit, but the Ivy League has the chops

The Boston Globe’s recent feature, “Universities in red states and heartland may be winners as Ivy League contends with Trump onslaught,” delivers a provocative (and click-worthy) thesis: that public universities in the South Eastern Conference (SEC), are poised to benefit as elite coastal institutions come under political attack. Journalists, Hilary Burns, Diti Kohli and Liz Kowalczyk lean heavily on Heritage Foundation talking points and gloss over the deep political, cultural, and structural barriers that make the SEC schools fun for football Fridays but fraught for free thinkers and world-class researchers. Here’s what the Globe gets wrong, and why the supposed “winners” in this new landscape may actually be losing ground where it matters most. [NOTE: Since the Boston Globe doesn’t have a ‘gift option’ for the article, I’ve downloaded the PDF for you to view.]

Photo by Xiangkun ZHU on Unsplash

Enrollment Boom from the Northeast: A Flawed Theory

While the Globe article correctly notes a surge in undergraduate enrollment at SEC schools from the Northeast, it misses the real catalyst: COVID. During the pandemic, SEC schools in red states imposed far fewer restrictions, attracting students—and their parents—who wanted a “normal” college experience. This initial surge was then turbocharged by Sorority TikTok, as Greek life and campus culture went viral, making SEC schools attractive to Gen Z applicants. Remember, GenZ is the influencer generation and it shows in everything they buy - including their higher education destination.

But this SEC enrollment boom is almost entirely at the undergraduate level. Graduate students, especially PhDs, follow the money, research infrastructure, and proximity to industry. While the Globe touts rising NIH funding at SEC schools, it’s still a fraction of what flows to the Ivies and other elite institutions—and recent cuts have hit SEC campuses as well. Bottom line: you cannot build a world-class laboratory overnight, and the locations of these labs and the expertise and networks that drive cutting-edge science remain concentrated outside the SEC.

Attack on International Students and Academic Freedom

The Globe notes the stark contrast in international student enrollment: 20–25% at Ivy League schools (nearly 40% at Columbia), versus 5% or fewer at most SEC schools. But the journalists fail to grapple with the implications. International students and scholars are the backbone of U.S. research, especially at the doctoral level. Blue-state institutions, while imperfect, have prioritized creating inclusive environments for racial, ethnic, and international diversity. In contrast, many SEC campuses operate in states where immigration and diversity are not just unwelcome but actively targeted by legislation.

While it may be difficult to build a laboratory or research facility, building an inclusive campus climate where it may not exist, well, that is infinitely more daunting, especially when the state’s government is actively making immigration and diversity unwelcome or even illegal. And while the attacks on international students and DEI is accelerating, the dismantling of academic freedom may be even more damaging. Faculty in red states face direct political pressure on what they can research and teach. This chilling effect is not hypothetical as it’s already distorting hiring, tenure, and research agendas at public universities across the SEC.

The Academia Exodus

The Globe overlooks a crucial trend reported by Inside Higher Ed, NPR and Nature: many top researchers are considering leaving U.S. academia altogether. Private industry and overseas research environments are increasingly attractive, offering stability, funding, and academic freedom. Football weekends can’t compete with the prospect of losing your research, or your job, to political interference.

As the U.S. research environment becomes more politicized and less welcoming, especially to those working on anything loosly connected to DEI or climate science, the real “winners” may be universities in Canada, Europe, China or the private sector. When the research community has lost faith in the U.S. as a viable home base for innovation and where politicization of DEI and climate science has been baked into the operations of state flagships it is no wonder that scholars are looking for opportunities elsewhere.

Not a Zero-sum Game

The Globe’s thesis that SEC schools will simply absorb the research talent and resources displaced from elite institutions is click-bait fueled at best. And please, this is not me being a ‘coastal elite’. The math simply ain’t mathing as the kids say. Rather, the reality is more sobering: the very aspects of campus culture that make red-state universities attractive to some undergraduates such as lax conduct restrictions, viral Fraternity/Sorority life, Football drinking culture and state political alignment - - are the same ones driving away the international talent, academic innovation, and research capacity needed to build world-class universities.

The future of America as a research and academic world leader is not a zero-sum game between pitting the coasts against the fly-over states. Rather, it’s a question of whether the country can be a magnet for the best and the brightest, regardless of where they were born, and where they choose to study.

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