I stand by George Mason University and Gregory Washington and their insistence on independence from the Trump administration.

I am a George Mason University alumni and I'm proud to see my university and its president stand up for itself, its diversity, and its independence.

The refusal has made the George Mason president one of the few university leaders who has explicitly, and publicly, challenged the Trump administration. He joins a short list of other higher education leaders, including the presidents of Harvard and Princeton.

But unlike many of his peers, Dr. Washington has been targeted as an individual, and so his choice to resist the Trump administration’s demands leaves him in an uncommonly precarious position.