Threats to Student Protest Are Antithetical to the Mission of Higher Education

AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement today. 

The AAUP defends the right to free speech and peaceful protest on college and university campuses, a time-honored tradition protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Donald Trump’s unprecedented threats to expel and arrest protesters and end federal funding to colleges and universities that allow student protest have all the markings of a dictator. Such threats to punish students for protected speech are antithetical to democracy and to the aims of higher education.

Students and faculty, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to due process under the law and within their institutions. College presidents and administrators must not depart from their core mission of education in service of the common good, and must protect the rights of students, faculty, and others on campus to express their political convictions.

All who care about higher education and free debate should condemn Trump’s remarks. Our colleges and universities should encourage, not suppress, open and vigorous dialogue and debate about even the most deeply held beliefs. They should be places of free and open expression and inquiry. Robust debate and the critical evaluation of different points of view are essential components of higher education and of the transmission of knowledge, and must be defended at all cost.