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Brian Lehrer: We're going to have the call in that I mentioned before the news, for families making a big choice this week. The question is, has the political climate in the country or on any particular campus affected the decision for you, your family members, or any other person person you know, about which schools offer to accept? 212-433-WNYC. Our phones are open. 212-433-9692. It's this Thursday, May 1st.

That's the official decision deadline day for students heading off to college for the first time in the fall, or even staying home and going to college, but given the heightened political tensions surrounding our country's universities all this year, perhaps this decision is more complicated than in previous years. Listeners, help us report this story. Has choosing a college become not only about, say, campus amenities and what majors they offer, but also about the politics of higher education?

Front and center in the Trump administration, and also front and center in the Gaza war period over the last year and a half. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Has the political climate in the country or on any particular campus affected the decision for you, your family members, or anyone else you know, about which schools offer to accept? Maybe it even affected which schools you applied to, or didn't even apply to?

You can tell us that part of the story, too. 212-4332-WNYC. 212-433-9692. How about for Colombia in particular? I'm sure listeners in our area, many of you have gone to Colombia, your kids have gone to Columbia, somebody you know has been involved with Columbia. Maybe you work at Columbia. Of course, Colombia has been kind of the national epicenter of these politics, not only during the Trump administration, but before as well.

Our news reporting this morning was talking about an ongoing demonstration-- I don't know if it's ongoing at this minute, but by Columbia students, asking the campus to do more than they've done, asking the school administration to do more than they've done to resist Trump administration demands on the school. How about Columbia in particular, but obviously not just Columbia, these kinds of conversations, these kinds of debates, these kinds of actions are going on at so many schools.

Take us into your decision making process as national politics or campus politics has affected it. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Harvard published the letter that they received from the members, some members of the Trump administration. I'll review briefly this list of demands for some of you who may not have heard it. Governance and leadership reforms, particularly reducing the power held by students and faculty, what the Trump administration calls merit based hiring and admissions.

The university must cease all preferences based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. International admissions reform, which calls for the university to screen all applicants, "supportive of terrorism or antisemitism" and to report international students who commit conduct violations, as they call them, to Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

Also viewpoint diversity in admissions and hiring, and reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism or other bias, and at the same time, discontinuation of DEI. The list goes on. Some of you know, last week, hundreds of college presidents signed on to a letter opposing government intrusion into higher education. Listeners, how important is it to you that the school you or your child decides to attend signed on to this letter?

In addition, you might be reacting to controversies within the schools. Is a school too soft on antisemitism, and that affected what schools you or your kids decided to apply to, or too soft on Islamophobia? Are they too DEI, or not enough DEI, regardless of the Trump administration? Listeners, do ongoing campus protests, do Trump administration politics have an impact? Have they had an impact on what schools you applied to, or any family member, or anyone you know?

Once those acceptance letters came in, which one you decided to go to? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Call or text. We'll take your quick stories right after this. All right. We will skip the theme. Glitches happen. It's The Brian Lehrer Show. Okay. Bring it up. I'll talk over it.

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It's The Brian Lehrer Show, on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. With that music as backdrop, we're going to go now to our call in and our text stand. We're getting some really interesting texts on the question, how have national politics or campus politics affected your family's decisions this cycle, on which colleges to apply to and which one to finally accept? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. Here's a text to start this off.

Listener writes, "I'm faculty at a university in Georgia and my daughter is a New York City student deciding on colleges. Now, while we would get free tuition from my institution, we were concerned about sending her to a school in a state where reproductive health care is threatened." That's a start. Another one writes, "Was already leaning toward a more STEM oriented school. Now we'll go to a trade school, since I have zero interest in having my educational experience defined by a bunch of people on both sides making the environment polarized."

Those are our first two in text messages. Let's go to Edson, in Manhattan. Edson, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Edson: Hey. Hi, Brian. Thank you very much for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: First of all, Edson, can I say-- I know, because you're a somewhat regular caller to the show, who you are,-

Edson: [crosstalk] Oh, wow.

Brian Lehrer: -at least in terms of that, you're Edson, in Manhattan, and I've heard your voice before. I just want to say in advance, congratulations on your daughter turning 18, as you told our screener, and going to college. I'm just going to start with that, now tell us your story.

Edson: Yes, she got accepted to a bunch of Ivy League school and we are very proud. She got accepted to University of Michigan, Boston, Vassar, but she settled on Brown University. We visited University of Michigan and also Brown the past week. The atmosphere over there, Brian, to be very honest, was very peaceful, very cheerful. We had a wonderful experience. Sometimes, you mentioned that here in the city, in New York, we are currently in a bubble.

It's like sometimes when I'm listening to your show, it's like the world is on fire. I didn't feel like that when we visit those Ivy League schools. On top of that, I just want to mention that my daughter attended Central Park East High School, 116 Madison, wonderful public school. She also attended a prep program, funded by CEO and people with a lot of money. Those are wonderful program. That was a wonderful program. Central Park East High School, it's a wonderful public school.

Brian Lehrer: Very, very excellent reputation for a long time. Central Park East. Edson, was the bottom line, since you had a choice, and your daughter had a choice of various Ivies, that Brown seemed the more politically chill at the moment, compared to some of the others?

Edson: Yes, yes. I think the dad has a lot of influence. I feel like I'm progressive, liberal, and I think she went to Brown last year, visited, she fell in love with the school, and she decides to go. I say, just go for it. It was her choice, and we are very, very happy.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Edson. Congratulations, and keep calling us. Sharon, in Livingston, New Jersey, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sharon.

Sharon: Hi. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I can hear you.

Sharon: Okay. Hi, I'm a lifetime addictive listener and a fourth time caller, I believe.

Brian Lehrer: Keeping track.

Sharon: Yes. [laughs] I usually call about climate change issues. My son was applying. First of all, he decided that he was definitely not going to apply to any schools in any red states, I'll put it that way. He applied to a bunch of Ivy League schools, he got accepted to Princeton, and that is where he's going. We're Jewish, and plenty of people have said, "Are you afraid to send your son to the Ivy League schools, because of everything that's happening on campus since October 7th?"

He has said, and we've said, that the schools-- we can't hide. We can't hide. My son is someone who's very articulate, and he's pro Israel, he's a Zionist, but he also has a lot of compassion for the Palestinian people, not for Hamas, but for the people. He felt that he would be a great person to be on campus there, because he can talk about these issues very well. He's actually in Israel for three months now, and he felt that we shouldn't be hiding and avoiding schools. Princeton was his top choice, and that's where he's going.

Brian Lehrer: Congratulations, Sharon, and call us for a fifth time and a sixth time, maybe tell us how it's going for your son at Princeton.

Sharon: I keep trying, I'm always on hold. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Congratulations on his admission. Julie, in Westchester, you're on WNYC. Hi, Julie.

Julie: Hi. My dad graduated from Columbia in 1950. My son graduated from Columbia-- I'm sorry, I graduated from Barnard. My brother graduated from Columbia, and now we have a grandchild who applied, got in, and will have nothing to do with Columbia or Barnard because of what's going on, and how they've capitulated to the Trump administration. Everyone is appalled.

My father, at almost 100 years old, has written an angry letter to the board of trustees and to the current president. It's just appalling. IWe'd much rather send our grandchild to Princeton or Harvard, somewhere that's standing up to the Trump administration.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Julie. Sort of on the other side of that, a listener texts, "My child is postponing her decision to attend Columbia School of Public Health for a year to see how the antisemitism plays out." That listener adds that her kids don't approve of or support Israel's violence against civilians. I guess that listener has two kids about to go to college and says they're still concerned about antisemitism on campus.

Another listener writes, "My niece is a trans woman. Her university choice and decision was first where would be the safest. A horrible thing for that to have to be your number one deciding factor." Let's see. I think we have another text here. "Child who's graduating high school senior just committed to Carnegie Mellon. I'm really worried about funding for her intended area of study of biophysics research, hoping things will return to normal by the time she graduates and the current administration is no longer in office." There you go, folks.

There's a smattering of some of you whose children, for the most part, have gotten into-- okay, high school seniors don't have to listen at this time of day. You're still supposed to be in school. I don't care about senioritis, so I'm glad you're not listening, but the parents have been calling in and you hear the concerns all over the map. Columbia capitulating, antisemitism at Columbia, worries about research, as we heard in that last, funding, even at a vaunted science research institute and engineering school like Carnegie Mellon.

How's that going to be affected by trump science and research cuts? The one who's a faculty member at a school in Georgia, whose daughter may not go there, even though tuition would be free, because she's worried about the reproductive health laws in that state. As we can hear, campus politics and national politics are affecting many, many people's decisions. Congratulations to all of you parents, grandparents, students, yourselves, on wherever you got into school for the fall, and wherever you're deciding to go.

Oh, yes, and that one texter who said they decided to go to a trade school instead of college at all for the moment, because they don't want to be in an environment that's so polarized, with loud people on either side of whatever debate. Congratulations. May 1st deadline, if you haven't gotten it in yet. We're going to talk to Jad Abumrad and friends next, about the former Radiolab host's event coming up at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Stay with us.

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