The resignations of all but one member of the board of the US Fulbright Program is concerning. Their resignations followed claims of political interference with the Program from the White House.[1] Let me explain why everyone should care about its future, even if you are not a ‘Fulbrighter’.
When I was a professor at the University of Southern California – USC, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship during the 1986-87 academic year. Since then, I have not been involved with the program except as a former recipient – decades ago. I have only encouraged individuals who approached me to take advantage of this opportunity.
If you are not familiar with the program, it was established in 1946 by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright. It has become one of the most prestigious American scholarships. It was designed after the second world war to improve international relations through the exchange of people recognized for their knowledge and skills in academia, civil society, or business and industry. Individuals, whether academics (from students to professors), artists, and professionals, are provided short term grants to make contributions abroad, such as in conducting research, and in exchange, individuals from other countries can be awarded grants to study, conduct research, or work for a short period of time in the US. Four times as many grants have been awarded to students as compared to visiting scholars.
Why is it important? Its reason for being was based on sending talented people abroad as virtual ambassadors for the US, and vice-versa, bringing talented individuals from abroad to act as ambassadors from their home countries. The assumption is that working in an international setting will help build knowledge and understanding across national and cultural boundaries. In such ways, it can be a positive force – making many small but meaningful contributions to international relations and, as Senator Fulbright hoped, to world peace. Its ambition was to contribute to avoiding another world war.
To me personally, it was a game changer. I grew up in the Midwest (St Joseph, Missouri), and like many Americans travelled mainly across the US, even though I studied cross-national comparative politics as an undergraduate at the University of Missouri. Later, as a professor at USC, I focused on comparative studies of new media, focusing on the social and political implications of interactive cable, telecommunications, and the Internet. I was awarded a Fulbright to pursue my research at Brunel University in the Uxbridge area of London, England, where I met scholars engaged in similar research areas. While working at Brunel for 1986-87 academic year, I was awarded another small grant to spend 10 days in Berlin, including a visit to East Berlin, before the wall came down in 1989 to almost everyone’s surprise.
My Fulbright experience internationalized my perspectives and research for the rest of my career. When I returned, it influenced my development of research and new courses at USC. Years later, I was invited to direct the final years (1993-95) of an innovative national research effort in the UK and Northern Ireland, involving a half dozen research centres, called the Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT).[2] I later retired from USC in 2002, after 22 years, to be the first Professor of Internet Studies at Oxford and the first director of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). The OII has evolved into what is arguably the best multidisciplinary department around studies of the Internet and related technologies and society with the OII moving into a brand-new humanities building at Oxford near the end of 2025. I still live and work in Oxford but returned to the States to direct the Quello Center at Michigan State University for four years after my retirement from Oxford.
You might imagine, I believe the Fulbright Program changed by career and life in major ways. It challenged and internationalized my limited knowledge and perspectives. Since I was in the Fulbright Program, I have continually sought to encourage others to broaden their horizons by not only travelling abroad but also by working with and accomplishing projects within another cultural context. You might not think there are major differences between the US and UK, but even subtle cultural differences can be enormously difficult to overcome.[3] When you do, you come back to your home country with a more international perspective – and you become an ambassador in both directions.
If the Fulbright Program is lost or its reputation diminished, as appears to be happening, it will be an international but also a national set back. I experienced the benefits of the program not only for me and my family, but also for my students, colleagues, universities, and communities, as I became a better teacher, researcher, and citizen. During a time of increased polarization and populism, the US needs all the ambassadors it can muster. We must hope that the people of the US can help foster international understanding and acceptance if and when their leaders fail to do so.
If you have the time, opportunity, and courage to fight for the Fulbright Program and other international scholarships, grants, and research, please pursue these efforts. The program needs to be adequately funded, but even more importantly, selection must be seen and be based on the merits of the candidates, not on their political leanings. Many Fulbright scholars went on to win a Noble or Pulitzer Prize. Strong institutions in the US or abroad would not compete to host a visitor chosen because of their political affiliations instead of their merits in their respective fields. If the Fulbright Program and its board are not independent of political institutions, such as the White House, it will be the beginning of the end of its reputation and value to international diplomacy. America’s reputation and identity is not only constructed by such criteria as its leaders, celebrities, influencers, music, Hollywood films, or policies, but also by its people working abroad, as Senator Fulbright understood many years ago.
Notes
[1] Guy Chazan (2025), ‘Leading US scholarship body suffers resignations from board’, The Financial Times, 13 June: p. 6.
[2] Dutton, W. H. (1996) (ed.), with the assistance of Malcolm Peltu, Information and Communication Technologies – Visions and Realities, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, and Dutton, W. H. (1999), Society on the Line: Information Politics in the Digital Age, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
[3] I recommend a book by the late David Lodge (1978), entitled Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses, Penguin Books.