The American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. urged officials to ensure free speech is protected on campus in a letter Thursday, as President Donald Trump threatens crackdowns on universities that permit “illegal protests.”
The letter, which ACLU D.C. sent to the District’s eight higher education institutions, states that the Trump administration’s recent executive actions — including the order that the government “quickly cancel” student visas issued to all “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses — reflects the executive branch’s attempts to “enlist university officials” in the “censoring and punishing” students. The letter comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on higher education institutions, including threats to pull funding from institutions that they allege failed to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations last spring.
ACLU D.C. wrote in the letter that universities are required by The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to protect the confidentiality of personally identifiable student information, including for noncitizen students, against “unwarranted disclosure” to the government or private parties.
“These executive orders and threatening communications violate the First Amendment,” the letter reads. “Protected political speech and association alone—no matter how offensive to the president, members of his administration, or members of the campus community—cannot be the basis for discipline, nor should it lead to immigration consequences.”
They also highlight that public universities are bound to the 14th Amendment’s guarantee that all people have equal protection under the law and that both public and private universities are bound by the Civil Rights Act’s Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin by institutions that receive federal funding.
The letter comes after the Trump administration earlier this month arrested and is attempting to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia University who led some of the university’s pro-Palestinian protests and is a permanent legal resident of the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security also detained and is trying to deport Georgetown University Professor Badar Khan Suri last Monday, accusing him of harboring ties with and spreading Hamas propaganda online. The ACLU of Virginia — who is representing his case — said the government is retaliating against Suri for his and his wife’s support for Palestinians and for the couple’s ties to Gaza.
University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said the University received the ACLU’s letter and “appreciated its support” for First Amendment rights and academic freedom, adding that GW is committed to fostering a safe academic environment that respects the debate and discourse of differing points of views, even when controversial. She said officials “at the same time” will continue to follow all applicable laws to support and protect the community from unlawful discrimination, including on the basis of religion, national origin and shared ancestry.
“The University maintains robust policies on free expression and offers resources for our students through the GW Division for Student Affairs and the GW International Services Office,” McClendon said in an email.
ACLU D.C. Legal Director Scott Michelman, who penned the letter, said in an interview that he recognizes University administrators are currently being “squeezed on all sides,” but officials have the legal tools to “stand up for themselves” and hold a line between protected speech and “unprotected harassment” that denies its students access to educational benefits. He said officials need to “do their best” to draw the line “faithfully” and ensure they aren’t influenced by political pressure.
“The University should take a strong stand in refusing to conflate policy disagreements with the administration and speech on critical matters of foreign policy with harassment of particular groups of students,” Michelman said.
He said history will remember which universities stood up for individuals’ rights and protected their students from the Trump administration’s “bullying” and those who capitulated and cut deals with an administration that seems “hell-bent” on eviscerating American’s constitutional freedoms.
Michelman said the ACLU has not received a response from University officials as of Friday morning but that the organization “welcomes” the opportunity to discuss with officials how they can protect student’s constitutional freedoms.
“Universities have a responsibility to their own stakeholders, their faculty, their students, their donors, their trustees, to use all available legal mechanisms to defend their right to be a university,” Michelman said.
