[v. 6-25-26]

Minds Not Missiles 2026: Increasing Federal Investment in Higher Education:

         The extraordinary leaps forward in science and technology in the post WWII period were built through federal research programs operating in colleges and universities across the nation. These included computer science, telecommunications, genetic engineering and biotechnology, materials science and chemistry, oceanography and geochemistry. The core work force has been  tens of thousands of graduate students funded by grants from NIH, NSF, Dept. of Energy, NASA, NOAA and other agencies. It is notable that these programs were not identified as supporting the research universities, but rather with specific mission.

         In fact the US is one of the only industrial nations that lacks an explicit Dept of Higher Education in its federal Government. The support for the universities is essentially hidden in the overhead costs provided by the agency grants, which finance grad students and postdoctoral fellows, heating, plumbing, electrical and communications systems, and general maintenance of laboratories and facilities.

         Of course dedicated national laboratories have made valuable contributions, such as Brookhaven National Lab, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic facility. But even at these facilities, they key workforces depend i[pm graduate students and postdoctoral fellows on the staffs of nearby campuses.

1.   The Need for embedding continual support for Higher Education within the federal government.

         Existing  federal programs supporting research on campuses have been extraordinarily successful and productive. However, they also leave serious gaps in many areas of higher education, which cannot be easily covered by overhead from specific research grants. Thus though many campuses can purchase electron microscopes for research projects, it is often very difficult to upgrade undergraduate teaching laboratories which may need multiple phase contrast microscopes, or spectrophotometers, or high speed graphics computers.

         Similarly though some building upgrades including support for sustainable energy, may be financed by State bond issues, or state education budgets, many of these needs fall outside of state budgets.

         Sadly, over the past decades U.S Secretaries of Education such as Betsy DeVoss, and more recently Linda McMahon, have used the federal Dept of Education as a force to hold back both K-12 public schools and higher education. But just defending against such attacks is inadequate. We need to actively put forward the public good inherent in quality higher education, and actively advocate for the investments needed.

         The Congressional discretionary budget is the largest pool of public funds in the nation. Unfortunately these tax dollars have been diverted into tax cuts for the wealthy and outrageous military budgets. Freeing up taxpayer dollars for increased investment in higher education will require cutting the misuse of these funds.

Once it was clear for the need for advocacy for federal investment in education, coupled to funding by reducing obscene Pentagon funding, we revived the Books Not Bombs Campaign through the Mass Peace Action Education Fund. A robust campaign developed with Forums, Conferences and Teach-ins.

         In fact the struggles around public education intensified, with the Trump/McMahon termination of many Dept of Education programs support K-12 schools; and the Trump attacks on universities and effort to impose their “Compacts”.

         The enormous expenditures proposed for continuing war on Iran and supporting Israel, as well as the nuclear weapons buildup, have meant further reductions in human needs programs, including both K-12 and Higher Education.     

         Every State hosts numerous colleges and universities. Some 55,000 faculty are members of American Association of University Professors campus chapters. AAUP will be a key partner in this campaign. We also expect support from leaders at the National Education Association, the American federation of Teachers, and the Associaiton of American Research Universities

2. Trump Attacks on Education

         President Trump with his Sec’y of Education Linda McMahon have attacked K-12 schools across the country, by cutting federal Dept of Education Programs such as Title I and Pell Grants; They have also launched an effort to control campus expression and teaching through reactionary campus Compacts.

         In response the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have launched a national days of action campaign, whose first milestones were the actions this past Friday May 1, May Day. The campaign will continue leading up to the November 2026 Midterm elections. 

3. Working together with AAUP and AFT Chapters:

         In part because of the lack of formal parent partner organizations AAUP and AFT, have reached out to allies who may include parents, grandparents, alumni and students. Mass Peace Action Education Fund has taken advantage of this opening through the Books Not Bombs Committee. Begun as a small committee with a retired teacher, parent, grandparent, retired campus faculty and a grad student, the Committee now has over 300 members, including leaders of the state teacher’s unions, and some AAUP chapters.

Goals: Preparing for 2026 and 2028 House Elections:

         Because the politics and funding of higher education is distinctly different from K-12 public schools, this campaign is under the banner of the  Minds Not Missiles Education Fund. This focuses on explicit budget choices with respect to particularly higher education, but fully encompasses work of the existing Books Not Bombs Committee

         Among our goals will be to:

a.   Try to find candidates for the U. S. House in 2026 and 2028 who will explicitly pledge in include increased federal funding for higher education and K-12 education in their Platforms.

b.   The U.S. is one of the very few industrialized nations that lacks a Federal Dept. of Higher Education. We will therefore look for Sponsors for Congressional Legislation which would establish some explicit Section/Division of Higher Education within the Dept. of Education, with explicit funding priorities and appropriations.

c.   The initial construction of such a bill will be part of the work of Minds not Missiles.