Immediately after taking office, President Donald Trump launched a deluge of executive actions against universities, particularly in response to alleged antisemitism. Northwestern professors condemned the orders as attacks on the First Amendment rights of universities.
In a recent statement posted to Truth Social Tuesday, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from universities that allow “illegal protests.” The move quickly prompted criticism from many constitutional legal experts, who have cited First Amendment concerns.
In the hours following Trump’s threat, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the American Civil Liberties Union quickly denounced Trump’s proposal, especially questioning his authority to withhold funds and its implications for free speech.
“(I’m) not surprised, and at the same time, (I’m) really disgusted by the idea that the president of the United States thinks that they can, on the one hand, say that they are restoring the First Amendment and then blatantly violate the First Amendment,” said Ed Yohnka, ACLU of Illinois’ director of communications and public policy.
Several NU professors said that Trump aimed at elite universities because he views them as powerful liberal institutions. His recent threat is one of his latest in a string of warnings and executive orders, including research funding cuts in the name of government efficiency.
With multiple methods to withhold funding — some legal and some not — several NU professors said the action would also exceed the president’s executive authority and create a chilling effect for protestors.
Political science Prof. Matt Pryor said Trump aims to stifle First Amendment expression to muffle criticism of his foreign policy objectives.
“I think the majority of what he’s trying to do is threaten and scare people,” Pryor said.
Those tactics, Pryor added, extend to individual protestors and universities. Trump is using antisemitism to justify his crackdowns on free speech at universities, he said.
Shortly after threatening federal funding — and without an executive order — Trump delivered his opening strike: On Friday, the Trump administration announced it had canceled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University over the school’s alleged failure to protect Jewish students.
The action comes as the Department of Justice plans to visit 10 schools, including NU, to assess compliance with civil rights law and determine whether to impose sanctions. On Feb. 8, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell told Fox News sanctions could include funding cuts.
In 2024, NU received more than $743.4 million in federal research funding, some of which could be targeted in the event of a funding freeze.
The University did not respond to The Daily’s requests for comment before the time of publication.
Without authorization from Congress, however, the legality of Trump’s proposed funding abrogations is questionable, some NU professors said.
Pritzker Prof. Martin Redish, an expert in constitutional law, wrote in a statement to The Daily that the president lacks authority to freeze congressionally authorized funding.
“The president can stop funding only on the basis of discretion granted to him by Congress in the authorizing legislation,” Redish told The Daily in an email.
The Education Department and National Institutes of Health each receive tens of billions of dollars each year in discretionary funding. Programs that receive funding are largely predetermined, but the amount of funding varies. However, which universities receive funding depends on various eligibility factors defined by statutes and agency guidelines.
Further complicating the proposal, Trump failed to explain how he might define “illegal” protests and what it means for a university to “allow” them.
“It is abundantly clear from the language and what we heard is that any illegal protests (are those) which seem to be protesting (Trump’s) policies or something that he agrees with,” Yohnka said.
If Trump includes protests that violate time, place and manner restrictions; interfere with educational activities; or threaten specific groups, Redish said the First Amendment would not be a problem.
“The devil would be in the details,” Redish told The Daily in an email.
The main obstacle Trump will have to confront, said political science Prof. Laurel Harbridge-Yong, is how to legally withhold funding in the first place.
Like Redish, she said Trump could face judicial challenges if he attempts to impound funds, ordering executive agencies not to spend congressionally authorized funds, which is illegal.
However, Harbridge-Yong said there are alternative pathways Trump could utilize. Trump could propose rescissions and seek congressional approval. Alternatively, he could ask the current Republican-controlled Congress to write more ambiguous legislation that gives more discretion to agencies. Trump could also direct federal agencies to be more aggressive at auditing grants to certain universities, sidestepping First Amendment concerns by claiming different reasons for doing so.
Regardless of which method Trump chooses, Harbridge-Yong is concerned that universities may preemptively comply with Trump’s threats to avoid funding cuts.
“Universities are very concerned with the economic impact, and may basically allow some of these infringements on freedom of speech in order to protect their institutions,” Harbridge-Yong said. “That has a slippery slope in terms of what we’re saying about universities and freedom of speech.”
Pryor said Trump’s gutting of Columbia’s federal funds — and his threat to extend those cuts elsewhere — represents a broadening of executive power and a blatant threat to both the U.S. Constitution and democracy.
“I hope people call this moment what it actually is, and I have decided to drop the facade. We’re undergoing an antidemocratic fascist takeover that’s destroying a lot of the Constitution,” Pryor said. “And it’s really scary.”
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