Baala Shakya, Photography Editor

On Saturday, University President Maurie McInnis stood before hundreds of alumni in Woolsey Hall, where she warned that Yale — and the American higher education system more broadly — face a “defining moment.”

The 40-minute “University Update” address, delivered at the first of Yale’s two May alumni reunion weekends, came just thirty minutes after more than 70 alumni gathered at the Women’s Table for an hour-long rally in support of academic freedom. Both events reflected growing alumni concern over funding cuts, endowment taxes and the erosion of public trust in higher education.

“I probably don’t need to tell all of you that we are, at this moment, in danger of losing something vital about how universities matter and contribute to the public good,” McInnis said in her address. “There is no generosity of an alumni body that can make up for the investment that the federal government has made with Yale and universities around America. We can’t go it alone. We need to do it as a partnership.”

McInnis emphasized that this “partnership” between universities and the federal government is critical, and traced the history of this bond to investments in research and higher education infrastructure after World War II. 

She noted that federal funding to Yale in that era facilitated a wave of scientific innovation, allowing Yale’s researchers to be the first to deliver chemotherapy and develop the insulin pump. She also highlighted federally funded research by other universities that led to the internet and global positioning software, known as GPS.

“I can bet not a one of you gets through a single day, maybe not even a single hour, without encountering or benefiting from the contributions made from this partnership,” McInnis said.

But that partnership, McInnis warned, is under threat.

McInnis pointed to a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, which would increase the tax on the University’s endowment investment returns from 1.4 percent to 21 percent. She claimed in her speech that the tax rate would have cost Yale nearly $700 million if applied to this year’s investment returns. That amount, McInnis said, represents more than 10 percent of the University’s annual operating budget. 

Experts have suggested that student financial aid and funding for university research could be inhibited by a proposed increase on Yale’s endowment tax. 

McInnis concluded her speech with a call to action, urging alumni to contact their elected representatives to oppose the proposed tax hike and funding reductions.

“Alumni are our greatest ambassadors,” she said. “Right now, one of the meaningful things you can do for this university, and frankly, for all of higher education, is to use your voice, because when you speak, when you share what Yale gave you and what it continues to give the world, people listen.”

At the conclusion of her speech, McInnis received a standing ovation from the audience, which packed the hall.

Alex Baldwin ’90 called McInnis’ speech “a defense of why we need institutions like Yale to thrive for the public good,” and Robert Shaffer ’90 told the News he was “inspired by her reference to freedom here next to the [Schwarzman Center] Rotunda, where many Yale alumni fought for freedom here and abroad.”

Connie Liu ’00 told the News that she thought McInnis’ email to the Yale community warning of the new legislation “was put out at a really good moment” and that she believes alumni have responded “very positively” to it. She said many of her classmates have appreciated how McInnis is “taking this opportunity to speak out and to stand up.”

In interviews with the News, six alumni echoed McInnis’s call for urgent action in protecting academic freedom.

“We can’t afford to lose,” Ritika Arora ’95, a radiologist who attended both the rally and the reunion address, said. “The cuts to funding to science research [are] going to hurt all of our health in the future, and it’s also going to diminish education for the next generation.”

The alumni rally, which Arora attended, was conducted in support of academic freedom and Yale’s public mission. Organized independently by a group of alumni, attendees urged Yale to “stand strong” in support of students and opposition to the endowment tax hike.

Liu, one of the organizers of the rally, told the News that she fears how the endowment tax hike may affect biomedical research and health care at large.

“I think we all feel very strongly that we took a lot away from this school,” said Nina Cyrenne ’95, who attended the rally. “We’re here standing for people who don’t work in academia because universities have provided for all Americans.”

McInnis will deliver her second University Update address on Saturday, May 31, at the second alumni reunion weekend.

Correction, May 27: A previous version of this article misspelled Connie Liu’s name and misidentified her class year.