Order on campus speech follows wave of complaints

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's proposed executive order to protect free speech on college campuses follows a growing chorus of complaints from conservatives the nation's universities are attempting to silence their voices when they're heckled, disinvited or their presence on campus is otherwise discouraged.

Critics counter conservatives are turning the shared goal of protecting free speech into a partisan fight.

It's unclear what Trump's order will contain, but the administration has been laying the groundwork for it for months.

The Justice Department has filed statements in various lawsuits siding with students who had alleged schools had infringed on their right to freedom of speech. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions opined at a forum last fall the issue had reached a pivotal point, saying "it is time to stand up to the bullies on campus and in our culture."

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made a similar assessment, saying "administrators too often attempt to shield students from ideas they subjectively decide are hateful or offensive or injurious, or ones they just don't like."

Trump's proposed executive order, unveiled Saturday during a speech to conservative activists, has drawn criticism from some higher education leaders including president Robert Zimmer of the University of Chicago, a frequent champion of free speech. In a campus email, Zimmer said new regulation would be "a grave error" and would give federal officials dangerous authority to interfere in campus speech issues.

"This opens the door to any number of troubling policies over time that the federal government, whatever the political party involved, might adopt on such matters," he said. "It makes the government, with all its power and authority, a party to defining the very nature of discussion on campus."

In his speech Saturday, Trump highlighted the case of Hayden Williams, who was recruiting Feb. 19 at the University of California, Berkeley, for the conservative group Talking Points USA when two men approached and one punched Williams during a confrontation captured on student cellphones. Neither Williams nor the man arrested for the attack are affiliated with UC Berkeley.

Trump told the conservatives in the audience Williams "took a hard punch in the face for all of us."

"If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they've got to allow people like Hayden and many other great young people, and old people, to speak," Trump said. "And if they don't, it will be very costly."

The University of California system issued a statement Monday calling Trump's proposal "misguided and unnecessary."

"Free speech is a fundamental value of the University of California, and we already have strong policies in place that protect the free expression of ideas, regardless of political persuasion," said Janet Napolitano, the system's president. "We do not need the federal government to mandate free speech on college campuses -- that tradition is alive and thriving."

There were multiple hearings on campus free speech during the past two years when Republicans were in control of both chambers of Congress, though an attempt to legislate on the matter made little headway. A bill from former Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to ban universities from restricting students' political speeches to certain outdoor areas on campus if that activity is lawful, did not make it through committee.

The hearings followed conservative commentator Ann Coulter canceling a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, amid fears of violent student protests. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also canceled a speech after opposition from students at a historically black university.