Fulbright Funding Freeze and Silence from Harvard Leaves Scholars with Questions

Professors and graduate students studying at Harvard as part of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program will be able to finish their programs despite federal funding cuts, though applicants say the program’s future remains unclear.

The Fulbright Program, which supports U.S. scholars teaching abroad and foreign scholars traveling to the U.S. to teach and conduct research, is funded by the Department of State. The program is among many that had their funding frozen by the Trump Administration in February.

Visiting scholars at Harvard have not received any information from the University since the freeze was announced in February. Harvard advising staff have also not issued any communication to finalists for the program from Harvard’s class of 2025.

The Institute of International Education, a global non-profit that oversees the Program’s administration and supports Fulbright scholars in the U.S., announced earlier this month that some employees supporting the program and other scholarships would be furloughed.

The decision to cut Fulbright staff has left both scholars and applicants in the dark.

“I had my last Fulbright interview two weeks ago, and so I’ve gone through the entire process, but I haven’t heard anything,” said Michael R. Waxman ’25, a finalist to teach English in Mexico, said.

“I’ve been hearing things about Fulbright, and I’m trying to do research about even what’s going on now,” he added. “It’s very hard to figure out what is going on. Obviously there are all these anecdotes of students and scholars being cut off, and how awful that is.”

Harvard’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships abruptly canceled a March 14 information session on Fulbright awards for U.S. students after the funding freeze was announced. The session was later rescheduled for April 10.

For scholars already in the program, salary payments made in three-month installments are prepared in advance, which means scholars set to leave at the end of this semester have already been paid. Some current scholars’ home Fulbright offices have also assured them that they will cover any funding that is not provided for.

Fulbright scholars at Harvard said they have not had their funding or salaries cut, and many are headed home as planned at the end of the spring semester.

Their advising, however, has been substantially reduced by the cut. The IIE informed international scholars studying in the U.S. on a Fulbright that their advisors from the organization “may not be able to answer your questions.”

The email also told professors that their host institutions had been informed of the personnel change. “Please be assured that your status as a Fulbrighter and as an exchange visitor on the State Department’s J-1 visa remains valid and in effect,” the email read.

But enrichment programs that come alongside the fellowship — which include conference seminars, conference trips, and networking opportunities — have been suspended.

Ashutosh Kumar, a Visiting Professor Fellow from India at the Weatherhead Initiative on Global History and a Fulbright scholar, said he received an email March 12 stating that the cohort’s trip to the Mass. State House was canceled. The group was also told that the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Anchor City Program, which supplies enrichment opportunities for Boston area Fulbrights, is under review.

Kumar praised the “bilateral” nature of the fellowship and said that Fulbright is one of few opportunities for foreign scholars to be exposed to “first grade universities.”

Harvard has consistently been ranked a top-producing Fulbright institution. Twenty-nine students and recent graduates were chosen for the scholarship in 2023. According to the Fulbright website, 27 visiting scholars are being hosted at Harvard during the 2024-25 academic year.

Since the IIE announced the downsizing, the Fulbright Scholars Program has not confirmed that the next cohort will receive funding on time. Spokespeople for the program and for Harvard did not respond to requests for comment.

Still, Kumar said he is not personally worried about the funding threats because his time in the U.S. is already limited.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We are not going to stay here. We are only here for our fellowship and for that fixed tenure, after that we have to return back.”

–Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at abigail.gerstein@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.

–Staff writer Avi W. Burstein can be reached at avi.burstein@thecrimson.com.