Donald Trump threatened to halt all federal funding for any college or school that allows “illegal protests” and vowed to imprison “agitators”.
It comes after Vice President J.D. Vance took his culture war to Europe warning that its greatest threat came not from China or Russia but from within as he delivered a blistering attack on what he said was the continent’s retreat from its traditional values.
Vance said free speech and democratic institutions were being eroded in an address to the Munich Security Conference. He accused European politicians of forcing people to shut down social media accounts, slammed the arrest of a British man for praying near an abortion clinic, and urged leaders to do more to stem illegal immigration.
Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK guards free speech “preciously” and denied that the Online Safety Act was a form of censorship.
College protests
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” the US president wrote on Truth Social.
Trump did not detail any specifics about how the federal government could expel or force universities to expel students.
Multiple students at Barnard College in New York City have faced disciplinary action in recent days for breaking into Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus last year.
The post comes as anti-Israel protests have popped up throughout the U.S. and on its university campuses amid Israel’s war in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks, which killed around 1,200 people.
The advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Fire) stated: “The strength of our nation’s system of higher education derives from the exchange of the widest range of views, even unpopular or dissenting ones.”
“Students who commit crimes – including vandalism, threats, or violence – must face consequences, and those consequences may include the loss of a visa,” it added.
“But if today’s executive order reaches beyond illegal activity to instead punish students for protest or expression otherwise protected by the First Amendment, it must be withdrawn.”
