After ordering the federal government to review its grants and federal contracts with Columbia University, President Donald Trump has threatened to revoke federal funding for any “College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” and to deport or imprison participants in pro-Gaza demonstrations.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, the president wrote: “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 on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!”
The Trump administration on Monday ordered several federal agencies to review their financial dealings with Columbia University, and consider cutting off over $50 million in contracts and grants with the school. The university was singled out by Republicans last year over pro-Gaza student protests, which led to the establishment of a large encampment at the school and the occupation of a campus building.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the administrators tasked with reviewing the school’s grants, wrote on X that “anti-Semitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues, adding that “making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.”
Kennedy linked to an HHS statement noting that it is teaming up with the General Services Administration and the Department of Education to conduct a review “in light of ongoing investigations for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”
The encampment at Columbia sparked a nationwide wave of student protests in opposition to Israel’s assault on Gaza. Columbia administrators allowed the NYPD to enter the campus — breaking with decades of precedent — to aggressively shut down the protest and arrest students. Republicans accused student protesters of being Hamas sympathizers, described the protests as inherently antisemitic, and demanded the Biden administration crack down on the protests. At several schools, law enforcement officials brutalized protesters or stood by as vigilantes attacked students.
Despite most participants being American citizens, the Trump administration has — as is their default — made hay about punishing or deporting any foreigners who participated. In July, the Republican National Convention adopted a party platform that included a promise to “deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again.”
Trump and his administration love to play chicken with constitutional law, but few things in the founding documents are clearer than the right to protest against the government. It should go without saying that lauding the principles of free speech and open debate while holding federal funds hostage and threatening to imprison protesters is a deeply disturbing contradiction.
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