Higher education is under attack right now in a way that it hasn’t been since the McCarthy era. Our country’s colleges and universities are being attacked, by their own government, on multiple fronts.

Research funding at big universities is being weed-whacked out of budgets. Just a few weeks ago, the University of Maine laid off nine employees at a research lab dedicated to offshore wind energy and research into composite materials because the federal government yanked away tens of millions of dollars in funding without warning or explanation.

Any class or office related to diversity or equity, or inclusion is potentially on the chopping block, a target for politicians looking to get tough on liberals or “make America great again” or whatever they’re doing for their voting base.

I get that people don’t like DEI, or don’t approve of it, but if you have ever been to school or work with a new mother, do you know what it’s called when she gets accommodations to pump, breastfeed, or miss time for doctor’s appointments? Equity and inclusion. Any accommodation for a student with a disability? That’s equity, making sure they can access an education as easily as their non-disabled peers.

The president is personally attacking Harvard and attempting to rescind pretty much every source of federal funding the school gets. If it were me, I wouldn’t have picked a fight with a school that is older than the country itself.

Just last week, the Trump administration ordered its embassies to stop conducting interviews for foreign student visas, with no indication of when they will resume. This was days after he revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll and host foreign students. This is a huge loss not just to those students, but to the communities around them, both at school and in America.

One of the most vital parts of a college education does not come from studying texts in a classroom. It comes from meeting people from different walks of life. Students learn just as much from each other as they do from their professors. I know I did. It’s much harder to be scared of people from foreign countries, to see them as a danger that needs to be kept out of “our” country, when you’ve been sitting next to them at the dining hall and standing behind them in the library checkout line.

Obviously Harvard is not the most sympathetic target. It is the most recognizable school in the country, if not the world. It has a multi-billion-dollar endowment. It also kind of has a reputation for being snobby. There may be a temptation to shrug and think, well, Harvard can take care of itself.

But smaller schools, to say nothing of the public institutions that have been systematically starved of public funds, can’t. There is a narrative being pushed that foreign students are somehow stealing money and benefits away from American students. This isn’t true. If anything, the opposite is true.

When I was at Smith College, roughly 60% of the student body received financial aid to attend, including myself. I received a lot of grant money, without which I would never have been able to afford to attend. The other 40% of the student body paid full price to attend and, of that 40%, a disproportionate amount were foreign students who were willing to pay a full ride for a good American education. In the process, they subsidized Americans like myself. When their status is threatened, it feels personal to me.

Anyone who has spent any time in a college town knows that they are the economic engines of that town. I certainly spent a ton of money in local bars and restaurants when I was in school. (Probably more than I should have.)

In all seriousness, though, if enrollment drops because federal policies make it difficult for students to enroll or pay for school, it won’t be the big cities that suffer. Boston and New York can get by without their universities. Even Portland would probably be OK.

But Maine towns like Orono, Fort Kent and Machias? Those towns will feel the pain of losing students, not just as consumers and population members, but as potential Mainers.

It’s no secret we need more people to come to our state. If they have a high level of education, so much the better. Young people may come to Maine for the education but they stay because of the lifestyle and because our state is literally awesome.

Even students who move away after graduation maintain ties to Maine. They are more likely to come back as tourists, or retirees, or to send their own children to school here.