Donald Trump cracks down on colleges that ban free speech
Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that threatens to strip federal funding from colleges that do not protect free speech.
Donald Trump cracked down on colleges that do not protect free speech by threatening to strip them of federal funding.
The president signed an executive order on Thursday that requires universities to certify that they protect the first amendment in order to receive a portion of the federal government’s $35 billion university grant fund.
Trump initially proposed the idea during a March 2 speech highlighting the case of Hayden Williams, an conservative activist that was punched in the face while recruiting for Turning Point USA, an American right wing nonprofit, at the University of California, Berkeley.
After the incident, Trump said that Williams ‘took a hard punch in the face for all of us.’
‘Under the guise of speech codes and safe spaces…universities have tried to restrict free thought,’ Trump said before signing an executive order to stop ‘ideological intolerance on campus.’
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‘Taxpayer dollars should not subsidize anti-First amendment institutions,’ he continued.
It is unclear how the government will enforce the order and what type of violation could trigger a loss of funding. White House officials declined to provide specific examples and said implementation details will be finalized in coming months. In the Feb. 19 case at Berkeley, neither Williams nor the man arrested for the attack was affiliated with the university.
Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter called it a “momentous day,” saying the order will “protect free speech rights for ALL students.”
Numerous colleges have opposed the order, saying they already have solid free speech policies. After Trump’s earlier proposal, the University of California issued a statement calling the order “misguided and unnecessary.”
Some also worry the order could backfire. If an event threatens to turn violent, for example, some say they might have to choose between canceling the event for safety and allowing it to continue to preserve federal funding. Some say it could force religious universities to host speakers with views that conflict with the universities’ values.