Trump Fund Cuts Hamper Tagalog Language Program

US President Donald Trump's war against Ivy League schools is hampering a petition by Filipino-American students to establish a Tagalog language program at Brown University—an effort that has been ongoing for decades.

- By EJ MACABABBAD

The Filipino Alliance, composed of Fil-Am university students, has already gathered over 1,000 signatures urging Brown to join the ranks of Harvard and Yale in offering a Tagalog course.

Petitioners, however, said Brown's administrators are preoccupied by the Trump administration's threats to cut funding, as creating a new program typically involves budgetary considerations.

"A lot of the money that Brown had is slowly being eviscerated, so that's the rocky landscape we have to navigate," Alexa Theodoropoulos, an incoming junior and vice president of the Filipino Alliance, told The STAR in an interview.

According to Theodoropoulos, whose relatives reside in Taguig, Harvard and Yale have dedicated funds to their Asian studies programs from their own budgets and alumni donations.

Harvard has begun teaching Tagalog in the academic year 2023 to 2024, while Yale will introduce its program by September to November this year.

But Theodoropoulos said Brown's funds are shrinking, partly due to relentless White House attacks, prompting the university to implement belt-tightening measures, such as hiring freezes, pay cuts, and reduced stipends for researchers.