“One way or the other” — this was President Trump’s response earlier this month when asked how he plans to acquire Greenland. The threat has raised alarm bells around the world as the president has ramped up his pursuit of the icy island thousands of miles away. His administration has cited national security concerns as justification and has even explicitly mentioned using the military. He has proposed several other rash approaches, such as bribing Greenlanders.
In the current media whirlwind, it is difficult to fully process all of Trump’s threats. We’re already grappling with the gravity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s occupation of Minneapolis and the Trump administration’s continued attacks on higher education in the United States. It’s hard to then also pay attention to a sheet of ice thousands of miles away. But we should not let this flurry of domestic events distract us from recognizing the negative impacts that the acquisition of Greenland will have on Americans — yes, even on Brunonians. With Greenland, Trump would cement his authoritarian practices, which degrade the democratic principles that keep our university safe.
Most Americans do not support the recent efforts to seize Greenland, and they stand alongside many politicians from both parties. Despite the backlash, Trump’s threats to take over the island have been relentless. If he were to succeed in Greenland against the will of the majority, it would only empower him to continue pursuing unpopular policies that threaten our civil liberties and freedoms at home — if no one stands against his actions now, who will stop him from continuing to disregard the will of the American people?
Last fall, Brown rejected Trump’s invitation to join a compact that would have overhauled University policies because our core values and inclusionary policies go against what the president has fought for and asked for in the compact. Our refusal to accept these terms dealt a blow to the Trump administration’s vision for controlling higher education and served as an example of our ability to both value the democratic inclusion in our school’s academics and harness the autonomy to stand up to the Executive. Brown rejected Trump’s compact because the majority of the Brown community felt it to be a bridge too far. In that same spirit, we ought to champion the will of the American people against Trump’s extreme and imperial project.
But an emboldened Trump, unrestrained by public will and riding on the high of foreign conquest, also runs on a campaign of retribution. Sooner or later, the president will return his attention to Brown. With less value given to democratic principles and public opinion, he could utilize far more than just federal money to coerce the University to accept his terms. Given the green light to ignore the desires of the school by this wildly unpopular pursuit of Greenland will result in returned pressure on our campus institutions.
Trump’s pursuit of a European territory threatens not only the United States’ alliance with European countries, but also American universities’ long tradition of collaboration with their European counterparts. Trump’s senseless approach to the takeover of Greenland strains the relationship between the United States and its longheld NATO allies — a consequence that is not only bad for the country’s position on the international stage, but that will trigger effects that Brown students will feel. These range from potentially complicating the statuses of international students from Europe — who make up 14% of our international student population — to something as seemingly trivial as jeopardizing our popular study abroad program in Denmark. Several countries in NATO have already begun to discuss what the alliance might like without the U.S.
Even though an icy island thousands of miles away may seem like the least of Brunonians’ problems, the imperialist, authoritarian nature of Trump’s pursuit shares similarities with his threats to universities at home — threats Brown knows all too well. It represents a step towards Trump’s vision of America — one that does not resonate with the values we profess to uphold as a Brown community.
Shayyan Ahmed ’27 can be reached at shayyan_ahmed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
