This is an adapted excerpt from the March 22 episode of “Velshi.”
Dictators fear freedom of speech more than any other right because it is the beating heart of a free, democratic society. People who are free to speak are free to challenge authority, share ideas and organize, all of which undermine tyranny. This is why a true measure of a nation’s freedom can be seen in how much dissent it is willing to tolerate — and in a vibrant democracy, dissent is valued, not simply tolerated.
In the 1700s, the American framers, having recently freed themselves from British rule that suppressed free speech and persecuted dissent, understood the crucial role the First Amendment would play in protecting citizens from government overreach. Benjamin Franklin observed: “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of the nation, must begin by subduing the freedom of speech; a thing terrible to publick traitors.”
A true measure of a nation’s freedom can be seen in how much dissent it is willing to tolerate, and in a vibrant democracy, dissent is valued, not simply tolerated.
It’s no wonder, then, that Donald Trump’s administration has set its sights on America’s universities, institutions that serve as major centers of deliberation and free inquiry, institutions that have historically been principal sites and incubators of dissent and protest. If speech can be effectively chilled in these critical intellectual spaces, it makes it much easier to silence the broader public.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has threatened universities with massive cuts to federal funding if they don’t submit to his agenda, which includes dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs and banning what Trump is calling “illegal protests.”
On March 10, the administration notified 60 universities that they are under investigation for what it alleges is a failure to protect students from antisemitism on campus and warned the schools they could face “potential enforcement actions” as a result. It comes at a time when there is an active debate on college campuses about what constitutes antisemitism and whether protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza would be included in that definition.
The Trump administration also announced that it was investigating 52 schools for using what it calls “racial preferences and stereotypes” in their educational programs and activities, essentially a continuation of its attack on DEI initiatives. Last week, the White House announced that it was pausing $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender athlete policies. And in a move that stunned the academic community nationwide, the Trump administration attempted to exert unprecedented control over Columbia University by threatening to cut $400 million in federal funding unless the school met a long list of demands — among them, placing its Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies under academic receivership for at least five years.
Despite widespread calls from across the academic world urging Columbia to defend its independence, it appears that the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, has conceded to Trump’s demands. Armstrong announced several new measures, including a ban on masks to conceal identities, the hiring of 36 campus officers with the authority to arrest students and the appointment of a new senior vice provost to review “programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East.”
Meanwhile, running parallel to these investigations and threats, the Trump administration has been deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to campuses to seize international students who have no criminal records and are accused of no crimes but who have participated in protests or online criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, their school’s investments in Israel, America’s military support of Israel or the continuing war itself.
Trump’s assault on academia has prompted massive opposition, with growing calls for administrators to resist this assault on academic independence. J Street, a Jewish lobbyist group, issued a statement blasting the administration’s actions: “While Trump will stop at nothing to attack higher education, we remain firm in our belief that universities are a tool for empathy, understanding and academic freedom.
“If the administration was serious about fighting antisemitism,” the statement continues, “it would listen to Jewish students; it would seek to calm campus tensions rather than escalate them; and it might start by throwing out the slew of bigots and conspiracy theorists it has promoted to top positions in its own ranks.”
University presidents, from Wesleyan’s Michael Roth to Princeton’s Christopher Eisgruber, have joined in condemning the administration’s assault on higher education. In The Atlantic, Eisgruber wrote: “The attack on Columbia is a radical threat to scholarly excellence and to America’s leadership in research. Universities and their leaders should speak up and litigate forcefully to protect their rights.”
Trump’s efforts to seize control of academia are part of a broader campaign to neutralize institutions that could potentially threaten his power. From law firms and media outlets to government inspectors general and federal judges, the administration is targeting every major institution that could challenge its agenda.
But Trump’s threats to cut off funding to some of the world’s premier research universities and deport students are especially alarming because the consequences of this intellectual retreat are not theoretical.
During the Red Scare of the early 1950s, the U.S. government expelled hundreds of immigrants, including Chinese students, effectively gifting the Chinese government with trained U.S. scientists and engineers. One of those scientists was Qian Xuesen; today he’s known as the father of China’s ballistic missile program. The odd twist of fate was summed up by Nicholas Sung in Just Security this way: “The very Chinese missiles that threaten Taiwanese and American security are the legacy of the U.S. government’s profiling and deportation of a Chinese scientist.”
Trump’s efforts to seize control of academia are part of a broader campaign to neutralize institutions that could potentially threaten his power.
Former U.S. Navy Secretary Dan Kimball, who fought to keep Qian in this country, was less polite in his criticism of the calls for the Chinese scientist’s deportation, saying at the time that it was “the stupidest thing this country ever did. He was no more a communist than I was, and we forced him to go.”
Qian wasn’t the only victim of the Red Scare. Among its earliest victims was, in fact, the federal workforce. It would eventually sweep up thousands of innocent Americans, destroying careers and reputations. According to historian Beverly Gage: “The anti-Communist surge reshaped every institution in American life: Hollywood, labor unions, churches, universities, elementary schools — and, above all, the national-security state. … From on high, they told ordinary Americans how to live, whom to love, and what to say.”
Today, a similar pattern is emerging — and make no mistake, MAGA hysteria won’t be confined to America’s campuses. Karen Attiah, a columnist for The Washington Post, warns: “For now, the threat is directed at ‘others’: Palestinians, undocumented immigrants, trans people. … For this kind of strategy to work, there must be an intentional creation of distance between human beings, the illusion that they are different from us, and that the weapons we throw at them are from a comfortable distance.”
Attiah added: “This distance is and has always been a delusion — a profoundly dangerous weakness that America touts as strength. … Unless a groundswell of popular resistance moves to meaningfully stop the Trump administration’s targeting of Columbia and students, the rest of America will be considered prey. It is a matter of when, not if.”
