Trump administration officials have announced measures to suppress protests on college campuses that are critical of Israel, steps that have chilling implications for First Amendment rights.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would cut federal funding to colleges that allow “illegal protests,” a reference to the student-led pro-Palestine demonstrations that have spread across the country in response to Israel’s bombing campaign and siege on Gaza. The president also threatened that “agitators” would be imprisoned or deported if they were foreign students.
“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. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!” the president said.
Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the UN, celebrated Trump’s announcement and acknowledged that the purpose of the order is to target protests against Israel.
“Under President [Trump], colleges and universities will be held accountable. Antisemitism and anti-Israel hate will not be tolerated on American campuses. Promises made, promises kept,” Stefanik said.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer, explained in a video posted on X why cutting federal funding over political speech and protests is a violation of the First Amendment.
“You can take the position that there should be no federal funding of universities or there should be, that’s independent of the free speech point,” Greenwald said. “Once the federal government or any government decides to offer a benefit that’s optional … it cannot then condition receipt of that benefit on your expressing a particular view, your affirming a particular view, or your refraining from expressing a political view. This is basic First Amendment doctrine.”
Trump’s announcement came a day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, announced HHS would be taking steps to combat “antisemitism” on college campuses in another directive aimed at pro-Palestinian protests. While both President Trump and his predecessor have labeled the protests “antisemitic,” many Jewish students and organizations have been involved in the demonstrations.
HHS said in a press release that it, along with the Department of Education and the US General Services Administration, will be launching a “comprehensive review of Columbia University’s federal contracts and grants in light of ongoing investigations for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act” over allegations of antisemitism related to pro-Palestine protests.
“Antisemitism – like racism – is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues,” Kennedy said in a statement. “In recent years, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture have transformed our great universities into greenhouses for this deadly and virulent pestilence. Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.”
Last week, Leo Terrell, an attorney leading the Department of Justice’s “Task Force to Combat Antisemitism,” vowed he would put “Hamas supporters” in jail. “You see all these disorderly demonstrations, supporting Hamas and trying to intimidate Jews? We are going to put these people in jail — not for 24 hours, but for years,” Terrell said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12.
Terrell, whose task force was created by an executive order signed by President Trump in January, said indictments and other “aggressive” moves would begin soon. The DOJ said the task force would be visiting 10 college campuses to investigate alleged antisemitic incidents.
“When you see universities start losing millions of dollars in federal funding, you’re going to see a change in their behavior. When you see court orders protecting Jewish students, visas of antisemitic students being revoked — you will see a major change,” Terrell told Channel 12.
Back in 2019, President Trump signed an executive order directing all executive departments to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and the organization’s list of examples of “contemporary antisemitism” when enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The IHRA’s examples of “contemporary antisemitism” includes “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” It also lists applying “double standards” to Israel by “requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” and “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” by “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
