Mount Holyoke defends academic freedom amid federal pressure
Mount Holyoke College President Danielle R. Holley spoke to CNN about being one of the few higher-education leaders pushing back against federal government overreach.
Since January 2025, the federal government has worked to pull funding from colleges and universities that don’t follow its new policies about ending diversity programs, banning transgender athletes and shifting research priorities. Even as some universities, such as Brown, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, are acceding to government pressure, Mount Holyoke College is one of the few institutions pushing back.
According to an article on CNN’s website, Mount Holyoke President Danielle R. Holley is one of the few leaders in higher education who continues to speak out against the government’s efforts to control higher education. She told CNN that supporting diversity, equity and inclusion is a bedrock principle of the College.
“At Mount Holyoke, we are a women’s college, and because of that, we are built on diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Holley.
She decried Columbia University’s agreement to have what it calls an “independent monitor” installed to resolve disputes with the Trump administration over admissions and hiring.
“The idea that an American university would have a government monitor, not related to what they have been found to be in violation of, but related to their academic departments and the way [in which] they hire people,” Holley told CNN. “I think everyone in the United States should be deeply concerned with the idea that our federal government is attempting to run private universities and attempting to tell those universities who to hire [and] what they should be teaching in their classrooms.”
Holley linked Mount Holyoke’s loss of research funding to a wide-ranging attack by the Trump administration against research that focuses on women.
“If you are a researcher in this country doing work on women’s health, doing work on women in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] [or] doing work on women in leadership, any research that has to do with women is being caught up in those government searches and is being canceled,” she said. “When one of our research grants was cut, the wording from the federal government was that this kind of work related to gender is not beneficial and not scientific.”
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U.S. News & World Report has again ranked Mount Holyoke College as one of the top colleges in the country.
U.S. News & World Report released its 2026 Best Colleges ranking on Sept. 23, ranking Mount Holyoke College twenty-ninth among national liberal arts colleges, up from thirty-fourth last year.
The College ranked thirty-fourth for Best Value, National Liberal Arts Colleges and tied for twenty-first place for Undergraduate Teaching, National Liberal Arts Colleges, up from thirty-fifth last year.
“Our climb in the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for National Liberal Arts Colleges underscores the strength of our academic community and the enduring impact of a Mount Holyoke College education. MHC’s performance in this year’s overall rankings affirms our standing as the leading gender-diverse women’s college in the nation,” said President Danielle R. Holley. “We are proud to be at the forefront of progress, preparing graduates who are ready to make the future brighter for themselves, their communities and the world.
Other recent listings include the fourteenth annual 2026 Best Colleges in Americarankings by Niche, a college search and enrollment company.
Niche ranked Mount Holyoke College fourth for Best Women’s Colleges, thirty-first for Best Liberal Arts Colleges and thirty-third for Best Small Colleges.
Additionally,
Money magazine gave Mount Holyoke College 3.5 stars for its 2025 Best Colleges list, and Washington Monthly ranked MHC forty-eighth among liberal arts colleges as part of its annual College Guide and Rankings.
These ratings follow The Princeton Review’s August release of The Best 391 Colleges, in which Mount Holyoke ranked fourth for Best College Library, sixth for Best Schools for Making an Impact, fourteenth for Great Financial Aid and seventeenth for Professors Get High Marks.
Mount Holyoke’s iconic campus was ranked second for Most Beautiful Campus and thirteenth for Best College Dorms.
On Oct. 24, 2025, The Women’s Edge and The Boston Globe named Mount Holyoke College to the Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts.
This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the list by The Women’s Edge, a Boston-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing women in leadership positions. Each year, in partnership with The Boston Globe, it conducts a comprehensive nomination process before compiling a list of outstanding businesses and nonprofits. In addition to revenue and operating budget, factors considered in the evaluation include workplace and management diversity, board makeup and innovative projects.
The College is recognized as President Danielle R. Holley leads Mount Holyoke into an inspiring new chapter of its 188-year legacy. Now in her third year as president, with input and feedback from a team of students, faculty and staff, President Holley completed and launched MHC Forward, a multi-year strategic plan that creates a framework for how Mount Holyoke will make day-to-day and long-range decisions.
During President Holley’s tenure, Mount Holyoke College announced the MH Commitment, which ensures that United States families with total family income up to $150,000 pay no tuition. The MH Commitment is one of the most generous eligibility thresholds in the nation.
The College also launched a comprehensive campus plan encompassing the bold transition to geothermal energy and residence hall conversions. It aligns the planning and utilization of the College’s physical assets with its curriculum, majors, student residential life, student experiential life, alum engagement and staff and faculty experience.
A lauded expert on civil rights and equity, President Holley has been outspoken about the attacks on and sustained questioning of higher education through Executive Orders and other government actions. She has appeared in various outlets, including NBC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The Boston Globe, WBUR and NEPM.
“Being named to this list of trailblazers is an honor. Mount Holyoke College stands for bold and boundless leadership,” said President Holley. “The leading gender-diverse women’s college, Mount Holyoke College was founded nearly 200 years ago to educate those who are marginalized on the basis of their gender. Generations of our students have pushed past limits, created change and shaped a brighter future for Massachusetts and beyond.”
Being named to this list comes a month after being ranked twenty-ninth among national liberal arts colleges — up from thirty-fourth last year — in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Colleges ranking.
The College also ranked thirty-fourth for Best Value, National Liberal Arts Colleges, and tied for twenty-first place for Undergraduate Teaching, National Liberal Arts Colleges, up from thirty-fifth last year.
