Christina Lee, Senior Photographer

University President Maurie McInnis’ first year in office has been marred by threats to Yale’s federal funding and faltering confidence in higher education. In response, she refrained from bold public statements, prompting dissatisfaction from some students.

During her inaugural year, McInnis established committees dedicated to examining the University’s relationship to the public sphere and prioritized lobbying efforts in Washington. Recently, she signed an American Association of Colleges and Universities statement denouncing the Trump administration’s interference in higher education. Still, she has remained silent on Harvard’s resistance to federal pressure, having previously implemented guidance that advised University leaders to refrain from publicly commenting on topical issues.

“I can understand the strong desire to hear how I might view the actions of other universities or respond in similar circumstances when we see what is happening at other institutions, including Columbia and Harvard,” McInnis wrote to the News on Thursday. “But I feel strongly about staying true to my principles of being a respectful peer to my counterparts by not commenting on their decisions and trusting that each university is making the decisions that best serve their communities.”

The News asked eight undergraduates about McInnis’ approach to the Yale presidency thus far. The students — involved in various campus organizations — each spoke with the News in an individual capacity. They shared a range of opinions on the University’s response to student protests and approach to campus discourse. Several expressed disappointment at the perceived absence of a clear articulation of McInnis’ vision for the University. 

Institutional voice policy elicits skepticism from students

Just over a month after she was announced as Yale’s president, McInnis encouraged members of the University community to complete a webform that addressed a range of subjects, including the University’s public response to current events. 

In September, she convened the Committee on Institutional Voice to determine whether Yale and its representatives should comment on “matters of public significance.” The group hosted “listening sessions” to solicit the opinions of community members. 

McInnis told the News this month that institutional voice was a central concern in responses to the webform and her conversations with community members, which prompted her to form the committee.

The committee released its report, which advised that University leaders should refrain from taking positions on “matters of public, social, or political significance,” on Oct. 27, nine days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In a move that drew both support and criticism, McInnis adopted the committee’s recommendations in full.

During the fall semester, students appeared divided on the decision, with some asserting that the recommendations were too ambiguous. 

“It shouldn’t be some sort of blanket silence that applies universally to any sort of political issue,” Evan Lu ’27 told the News this past week. Lu added that he believes the University has a “responsibility” to make public remarks on matters that affect Yale directly, including issues that may impact “academic freedom and the value of higher education.” Lu acknowledged that it is “tricky” to decide when the University should comment publicly. 

The report advised that statements on behalf of the University are appropriate when “the university’s core mission, values, functions, or interests” are directly implicated. It acknowledged that expressing empathy on subjects of “transcendent importance to the community” may similarly be acceptable.  

McInnis cited these remarks when announcing that she would accept the committee’s recommendations and emphasized that the report’s guidelines do not apply to individual students nor faculty members. The institutional voice report provides only guidelines, and University leaders who diverge from the suggested restraint will not face official consequences.

Students concerned about McInnis’ vision for Yale 

In October, McInnis told the News that she did not present “an academic vision that [was] that distinct” during the presidential search process that culminated in her selection. In that interview, McInnis instead emphasized her plans to pursue the University’s long term goals of further developing its science and engineering programs. 

When asked this month about her vision for the University, McInnis cited her inaugural address, in which she spoke of five areas of focus for Yale’s future: increasing educational opportunities; maintaining Yale’s reputation; developing international partnerships; establishing “ever higher” academic expectations; and expanding faculty projects’ “collaboration and impact.” 

She also encouraged the University community to have an “open mind” and “compassionate heart” in the speech, while drawing attention to free expression and rebuilding trust in higher education. 

Manu Anpalagan ’26, who currently serves as the president of the Yale Republicans, wrote that he was unsatisfied with McInnis’ “lack of vision” for the University, which he found “disappointing and discouraging.” These remarks were echoed by Kai Padilla-Smith ’25, who told the News that he found McInnis’ policies “uninspiring.”

Meanwhile, Trevor MacKay ’25 — a former student president of the Buckley Institute — told the News that he appreciates that McInnis has not “rock[ed] the boat” in terms of policy decisions, while acknowledging that other students might have preferred more direct action. 

University response to student initiatives, activism 

Esha Garg ’26, the Yale College Council vice president for the past academic year, met with McInnis at the start of the academic year for her YCC role. Garg told the News that McInnis expressed interest in student perspectives and in incorporating their opinions into her vision for the University in that meeting.

However, when the undergraduate student body overwhelmingly passed a referendum recommending University divestment from weapons manufacturers, McInnis responded briefly.

In December, the YCC administered a referendum that asked students whether the University should disclose and divest from military weapons manufacturers and suppliers, as well as invest in Palestinian scholars and students based on its mission statement. Of the 3,338 undergraduates who answered the question, 83.1 percent voted for disclosure, while 76.6 and 79.5 percent voted for divestment and Palestinian scholarship, respectively. 

McInnis responded to the results with a five-sentence statement, directing students to Yale’s policies on investor responsibility and procedures of the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility, or ACIR. 

“Her response to thousands of students demanding change was insultingly brief, and made it clear that she is not really interested in our opinions,” wrote Padilla-Smith, who was involved in the divestment campaign organized by the pro-Palestinian Sumud Coalition.

Sahar Tartak ’26 — who has previously authored opinion pieces that criticize the University’s actions — wrote that it “would have been nice to see a substantive rejection of the divestment proposal as anti-American and antisemitic.” She told the News, “McInnis should embrace our country and all the good it has to offer, as well as what the Jewish people offer the world.” 

In an email to the News, McInnis pointed out that she, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis, Provost Scott Strobel, Secretary Kimberly Goff-Crews, trustees and other University leaders have met with student organizations and individual students about the subjects considered within the YCC referendum. 

She added that during the 2025 spring semester, the ACIR communicated to members of the Sumud Coalition that their presentation on military weapons manufacturers “did not include new material information” that would provoke the ACIR to review its previous decision not to divest from such entities.

McInnis wrote to the News that she does not meet with student groups regarding matters already reviewed by the ACIR.

Former YCC President Julian Suh-Toma ’25 said that “it remains to be seen” whether McInnis will demonstrate a commitment to community members’ opinions and at times, criticisms. However, he told the News that he is confident students will continue to call “for Yale to do better” and hopes McInnis will listen with an “open mind and heart.” 

McInnis emphasized free expression in her end of year message, in which she stressed that individuals must follow “the rule of law and university policies. These policies — such as neutral time, place, and manner guidelines — do not favor any particular group or viewpoint.” 

The end of year message came days after pro-Palestinan protests, which coincided with a far right Israeli minister’s visit to Shabtai — a Jewish intellectual discussion society, independent from the University — on April 23. 

Soon after, the University revoked Yalies4Palestine status as a registered student group in a press release that cited violation of protest policy as grounds for the decision and pointed to the group’s social media post calling others to participate, although acknowledging that the demonstrations were not affiliated with Yalies4Palestine or any official student organization. 

MacKay praised McInnis’ immediate response to the April encampment and emphasized the need for regulation and order on campus.

“A university, like society, requires rule of law and equal application of its regulations,” MacKay wrote to the News. “I hope that President McInnis continues to show zero tolerance for the disruptive behavior we have seen on Beinecke Plaza and Cross Campus in recent years.” 

Federal funding uncertain amidst criticism of higher education

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, his administration has directly targeted seven universities’ federal funding — including all Ivy League schools except for Dartmouth and Yale. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health has slashed indirect research funding and halted grants awarded to at least 17 Yale-affiliated researchers as of April 23. 

During the 2024 fiscal year, the University received $899 million in federal grants, with over $643 million coming from the NIH. Responding to NIH plans to cut funding for indirect research costs, McInnis issued her first statement that articulated an opinion about a contentious subject, in which she condemned the NIH’s plan to dramatically strip funding for indirect research costs.

“The NIH indirect cost cap substantially harms Yale’s core research mission and has severe consequences for institutions of higher education in this nation, and that is why I commented,” McInnis told the News in February. 

During her April inaugural address, McInnis emphasized the University’s ability to endure, while acknowledging decreased confidence in higher education which Yale will work to “rebuild.” Just days after that speech, McInnis announced that she had convened a faculty Committee on Trust in Higher Education. 

McInnis quiet in public, but pursues lobbying in Washington

McInnis has previously said that she believes behind the scenes work is the most influential. In December, she told the News that she would increase her lobbying work and travel to Washington regularly during the upcoming semester, as well as open a Yale office in the capital. She said that she was not certain that “a lot of public pronouncements” would necessarily be impactful in advocating for the “mission of higher education.”

McInnis has refrained from commenting on Harvard’s response to federal pressure, and its refusal to cooperate with the Trump administration’s demands. She emphasized the respect that is demonstrated by not commenting on other universities’ decisions, instead “trusting” that leaders will determine what “best serve their communities.” McInnis also cited her work with the Association of American Universities, a collective of 71 research universities.

She noted her commitment to preserving free speech and intellectual freedom at Yale, as well as advocating for higher education’s independence — which she “firmly” believes are “in the strategic interests of our nation.”

Students and faculty have urged the University to publicly denounce Trump and support Havard’s noncompliance with the administration’s demands. In April, McInnis signed a statement amongst over 360 university leaders, denouncing the “coercive use of public research funding.” 

“I definitely would want her to take a stand with Harvard. Again, I can understand her hesitancy to do so, given perhaps the funding challenges that we would come under,” said Lu. “But I think at the end of the day, history will look favorably upon Harvard.” 

Lu noted that the University has “survived” for over 300 years — echoing McInnis’ own remarks at her  inauguration — and has significant financial resources. He said that supporting Harvard was a cause “worth fighting for” and that he hoped McInnis would be more outspoken about the matter. 

McInnis is the first woman to serve as Yale’s President in a non-interim capacity.