Trump’s measure apparently aims at the anti-Israel manifestations that emerged in the US campus after the attack of October 7, 2023. However, the proposal raises legal issues about freedom of expression protected by the US Constitution
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, in a publication on his platform, Truth Social, which will suspend federal funding to any educational institution that allows “illegal” protests.
Although the president of the United States has not specified what he considers as an “illegal protest”, it seems to refer to the anti-Israel demonstrations that emerged on US university campuses after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023-and consequent scalar of violence in Gaza.
In the published message, Trump states: “All federal financing will be stopped for any college, school or university that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be arrested or sent back to the country from which they came.”
During the latest election campaign, the then Republican candidate had already made similar threats against Pró-Palestinian protesters. However, the publication in the social Truth was even more incisive, adding that students with US citizenship can be expelled from the institutions, ending with a strong “without masks!” and thanking “for the attention to this subject”.
Still, the legal viability of this measure raises several issues. Although Trump and his allies present themselves as defenders of freedom of expression, this stance may confront the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. It is unclear whether such an action would resist the first constitutional amendment, which guarantees the right to protest – even in support of “controversial” causes.
And if universities give in to the pressure of the US President and restrict freedom of expression, they can face themselves heavy legal consequences.
