On March 4, President Trump sought to block federal funding for colleges and universities that allow “illegal protests” in response to numerous protests that have sparked since the announcement of his presidency. This is something he has mentioned wanting to do even before running in November.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post, though he did not specify an enforcement mechanism and you could question the enforcement in general of this statement.
Trump has also stated that students would be expelled depending on the crime for which they were arrested.
He’s made similar comments about deporting foreign students that protest.
“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country,” Trump said at an event to donors, sources told The Washington Post. “You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.” Trump defenders are also unsure on what an “illegal” protest is, but it’s clear that this is a threat to every American citizen’s civil rights.
Since this threat, there have been a multitude of cases of students being reprimanded at Columbia University for students exercising their constitutional right to protest.
Student journalist and protestor university senior Maryam Alwan is being investigated by Columbia University for protesting Israel and writing a pro-Palestinian article for her school newspaper on the basis that it was anti-semitism. She received an email over winter break from her university accusing her of discriminatory harassment because of her op-ed written for her student newspaper calling for disinvestment in Israel.
A White House fact sheet on the order specified that it seeks to “Protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities”.
While Columbia University continues to swarm its campus with police, 100 students who were occupying the university have been arrested as a result of protesting.
Americans should be concerned of the possibility of not only universities but all institutions conforming to President Trump’s idea of whatever an “illegal” protest is. Students being allowed to be reprimanded for simply writing an op-ed on their social climate represents a unspeakable future for the American people.
