Last Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a statement regarding a cease in federal funding for all schools and colleges that allow “illegal protests” via the social media platform, Truth Social.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump’s post read. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Sociology professor emerita Pamela E. Oliver, who researches collective action and social movements, said Trump’s threats seem illegal.
“The order seems illegal on its face,” Oliver wrote in an email to The Badger Herald. “Protests are legal unless you violate laws, and then there are normal procedures.”
Trump’s statement came in response to Columbia University undergoing a comprehensive review and investigation to determine potential Title VI infringements for alleged antisemitic harassment, according to a Department of Education press release.
The press release outlined supplemental measures to help cease antisemitic harassment within university settings. The measures would apply to all other colleges that receive federal funding moving forward, according to the release.
“It does seem like an attack on sixty major universities in the country and seems closely tied to other efforts to do harm to major universities,” Oliver wrote. “It also seems like an effort to suppress dissent.”
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University and pro-Palestine demonstration organizer, was detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials March 9, according to AP News.
Officials told him his Visa was revoked, according to AP News. Khalil’s wife provided documentation that he was a legal green card holder, but the officials told them that it had been revoked too.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X. “Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
Last spring, many college students across the country took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. In Madison, students and faculty gathered at Library Mall for an encampment demonstration that lasted nearly two weeks before reaching a resolution with the University of Wisconsin administration.
While Trump’s threats seemingly have no legal standing, UW has an Expressive Activity Guide for students to find resources regarding assembly and free speech on campus.
