President Trump announced Saturday that he plans to sign an executive order that requires all colleges and universities to protect all free speech on their campuses. He said he would take away federal research dollars from the universities if they refused to comply.
The announcement came after an attack of a conservative man on the University of California Berkeley’s famously liberal campus. The man, Hayden Williams, who is not a student at Berkeley, was recruiting for his conservative networking group and got into an altercation with another non-student. The suspect, Zachary Greenberg, was arrested for assault and attempt to cause great bodily injury.
IU Professor Joseph Tomain says he is not surprised Trump took action after the attack on a conservative. However, Tomain says he is not sure Trump’s actions in similar situations also reflect a true commitment to freedom of speech. In fact, he says President Trump has not put the same emphasis of protection of freedom of speech issues that don’t align with his agenda, such as ordering NFL players to be fined for taking a knee to protest racial injustice, and calling the New York Times a true enemy of the people
Joseph Tomain speaks on the Berkeley situation and the bigger picture.
Tomain also says IU has nothing to worry about if Trump tries to implement forceable policy change because the university already has a very inclusive policy when it comes to freedom of speech. IU’s free speech policy states, “As an educational institution, Indiana University encourages discussion from a variety of different perspectives and viewpoints on all of its campuses. Members of the IU community invite speakers with a wide range of views to our campuses on a regular basis as part of our educational and research missions. IU will protect, as far as possible, the physical safety of invited speakers, their supporters and protestors without regard to their views or the identity of their sponsors.”
One example of this philosophy happened two years ago in April. Charles Murray was invited to speak on campus. Critics say Murray is a white supremacist and has published views that some people consider sexist. There was vocal and heated opposition to his coming to campus to speak; opposition from both students and community members. There was a large protest outside of Franklin Hall, where Murray spoke. The university brought in extra security to handle the crowd. The protesters were chanting phrases such as “Murray is a racist and sexist.”
Tomain says any university should have an inclusive freedom of speech policy. However, he does not think Trump’s order or threat to take away federal funding will be implemented.
