Project 2025 envisions a world in which America protects the fetus before the mother through abortion bans. It envisions a world where Critical Race Theory and gender ideology will not be included in American college education. It envisions a world in which America is not accountable for its greenhouse gas emissions, will no longer track new sources of greenhouse gasses, and will not be financially responsible for the damage caused by years of reliance on fossil fuels.
Project 2025 may seem like a mysterious endeavor. However, the task list for the next conservative president has been available to the public on the Heritage Foundation’s website since the beginning of the presidential campaign. Project 2025 is a transition project created “to assist the next conservative president.”
It is important to acknowledge that Project 2025 is not Trump’s plan. Nonetheless, he is closely connected. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez claims the writers told him Trump “was the embodiment of the program or the movement.” This means that President Trump is expected to be the catalyst for 900 pages of reforms.
These policies will have global effects, but the question for students at the International School of the Sacred Heart is: How will Project 2025 affect the 1,057,188 international students enrolled in US universities in 2024?
Project 2025 may seriously impact academic freedom. Project 2025 wants to use executive power to prevent federal funds from going toward critical race theory, filtering the conversation on American racism. It also wants Congress to eliminate “area-studies” classes taught in universities. These classes, such as African Studies, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Gender Studies, and Women’s Studies, tend to focus on specific groups and promote awareness of under-recognized peoples. To ensure that the banning of these teachings goes through, Project 2025 calls to break up the Department of Education. It also states non-political faculty within the education agencies will be replaced with political candidates who are loyal to the administration and will not promote the spread of ideas that disagree with an executive order.
The restrictions do not stop at education. Female bodily autonomy is also on the line. Project 2025 will exempt businesses from providing healthcare plans including contraceptives (ie: oral and emergency contraception, and prescribed condoms), while also removing abortion clinics and banning abortion pills by mail. The plan is to defund Planned Parenthood, an abortion clinic, and make it unaffordable to access safe abortions. Each pregnancy must be tracked from conception, and all miscarriages and abortions are required to be reported to the government. And, while Project 2025 will leave most abortion laws for the states to decide, it calls for the removal of federal funding for states that do not support pro-life efforts.
School shootings and gun violence are prevalent issues in the American education system. Project 2025 proposes the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act allowing concealed weapons to be taken across state lines making it easier for guns to end up on college campuses. Project 2025 calls to remove “red flag” laws which permit police to temporarily remove possession of weapons from people at risk of endangering themselves or others. This leaves weapons in the arms of unstable people who are often the perpetrators of school shootings ultimately leaving university students at risk.
The climate crisis is already unleashing its detrimental consequences globally. While the United States is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, the Heritage Foundation calls to defund research on renewable energy sources, while lowering carbon reduction goals. Under Project 2025 leadership, the United States plans to abandon accountability for greenhouse gas emissions and financial commitments to support developing countries through the shared climate crisis.
It is probable that Project 2025 will be set in motion under Trump’s presidency. Project 2025 head writer, Kevin Roberts, announced at a recent launch party for his new book that he is excited to work with the administration. Now that the House and Senate both contain Republican majorities as well as the Supreme Court, it will be easier for Trump to gain support and implement lasting changes.
Project is unlikely to disappear after Trump’s four years in office. Project 2025 is not a new proposal; it has just gained more popularity and ammunition in the recent election. Nine editions of the Mandates for Leadership (the longer title for Project 2025) have been published since 1980, and the Heritage Foundation finds its roots in the opposition of America’s Civil Rights Movement.
Even after these four years, Project 2025’s demands will influence far-right conservatives in elections to come. International students who plan on attending US universities should first understand how their education, safety, and personal freedom will be altered. They should see if the world they envision for themselves corresponds with the world envisioned by the upcoming presidency and the Project 2025 agenda.
