Defend free speech, student and educator rights at colleges and universities

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Free speech and academic freedoms are under violent siege by the administration of Donald J. Trump. There is no other way to view the current onslaught against the U.S. Constitution.

In a recent social media post, Trump said that federal funding would end for schools that allow “illegal protests” (without defining illegal). That’s a problem. “Agitators,” he continued, “will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!”

That missive is part of the administration’s unrelenting demonization and punishment of colleges and universities that don’t toe their line on speech, research or curriculum demands on college campuses. At Columbia University last weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and detained former graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at the school. He is now reportedly being held at a detention center in Louisiana for allegedly being pro-Hamas — but the circumstances of his arrest are unclear. A judge recently ordered the administration not to deport him pending legal adjudication of his detention.

Here at home, University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham wrote a series of messages meant to assure staff and students that the values and mission of the U “remain unchanged.”

What does that mean?

A U of M spokesperson explained the school’s public-facing demeanor like this: “(We are) fully committed to freedom of individual expression that occurs within the framework of University policy and existing law … We will continue to fully comply with federal laws related to visas for international students and employees, as well as those governing freedom of expression and student privacy."

But what will tomorrow bring? Consider the way the state of Maine is currently targeted by the federal government. During a heated exchange with the president last month, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she would not violate state law to ban trans women athletes from competing. Since her pronouncement, nearly $30 million in federal funding has been withheld from the state and several federal investigations have been launched against Maine.

Here in Minnesota, millions of dollars in grants and other sources of federal funds have been paused or eliminated from several colleges and universities, including $6.8 million to University of St. Thomas. And the Trump administration is investigating a number of schools, including the U, for alleged antisemitism on campus.

Maine and Minnesota are among 22 states now suing the Trump administration to reverse mass federal firings and to restore funding. But the chilling effect is already taking hold. Many school leaders are now self-censoring by creating policies that limit free speech or educational outreach efforts. Other educators appear to have been bullied into compliance due to the very real threat of losing funding or becoming targets of investigations.

As a former president, Trump railed against what he called the “weaponization” of the Justice Department against him. Now, in his second term, he’s weaponized the same agency in an unprecedented manner. He’s using his federal investigators to go after states and institutions for “trumped up” reasons that have no grounding in law or fact.

The rights of students and educators to hold peaceful protests and for schools to be bastions of free expression must be preserved at all costs. That’s nonnegotiable if our democracy is to survive.