University President Ellen Granberg on Wednesday joined hundreds of academic leaders in signing a national letter condemning “federal overreach” into higher education.

The letter from the American Association of Colleges and Universities — an organization of over 800 higher education institutions advocating for democratic values — published Tuesday states that “unprecedented government overreach” into universities is “endangering” American higher education. Granberg signed the letter on Wednesday morning, after more than 200 colleges and universities signed on Tuesday.

The letter, titled “A Call for Constructive Engagement,” urges colleges and universities to oppose “undue government intrusion” into their institutions. The letter also states that university leaders are open to “constructive” educational reform and do not oppose “legitimate” forms of government oversight, but reject the federal government’s “coercive” slashing of public research funding.

“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter reads.

Since the AACU released the letter Tuesday morning, leaders at an additional 100 colleges, universities and scholarly societies have signed on.

The letter — which does not directly name President Donald Trump’s administration — comes as the Trump administration has taken aim at American institutions of higher education, including GW. The Department of Justice in February announced a federal task force on antisemitism will visit GW to investigate alleged incidents of antisemitism that have occurred at the University since the start of the war in Gaza.

University researchers lost five NIH grants worth $3 million last month as federal funding cuts — largely targeting projects tied to diversity, equity and inclusion — took effect under Trump administration policies.

According to a University release published Wednesday, Granberg signed the letter on behalf of the University because of the “unraveling” of collaboration between the federal government and universities nationwide. The release states that the University will continue to “monitor and assess” executive orders and their potential impact on the University.

“The constant flurry of headlines relating to executive orders, intense scrutiny, investigations and other actions taken by the federal government have created challenging times for higher education,” the release states. “GW will continue to do what is required to protect our university’s future access to federal funds, including vigorous enforcement of our policies.”

Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University outlining demands for the university to meet in order to receive federal funding. Harvard’s president, Alan Garber — who also signed the AACU letter — responded, declaring Harvard would not give in to any of the Trump administration’s demands. In response, the Trump administration cut Harvard’s $2.2 billion in federal funding.

Harvard University on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop the funding freeze. Garber said in a statement the freezing of federal funding and other actions taken against the institution will have “real-life consequences” on many people. 

Trump has also targeted more than half a dozen universities’ federal funding including Cornell and Brown universities for allegedly violating civil rights and allegedly allowing antisemitism to fester following pro-Palestinian protests last spring. The Trump administration froze at least $1 billion of federal funding to Cornell and more than $500 million from Brown. 

Granberg said at a Faculty Senate meeting on April 11 that she planned to attend a conference call with leaders over the weekend from other American universities to discuss a response to the Trump administration’s actions.

During a panel with Provost Chris Bracey and law experts discussing institutional neutrality on Monday, Frederick Lawrence — a lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center and the former dean of GW Law — said conversations among university presidents about standing up to the Trump administration are happening behind the scenes, and he anticipates additional institutions to speak out in the coming days.

“I suspect you’re going to start to see this change where people are willing to speak out more, and maybe they should be willing to speak out by themselves and not wait for others to join,” Lawrence said.

The AACU said the letter is still open to signatories from current leaders of colleges, universities and scholarly societies. A total of 380 institutions have signed onto the letter as of 8 p.m. Wednesday.