APLU In The News

President Donald J. Trump’s signing of a controversial executive order Thursday was met with immediate criticism from areas of higher education, particularly aspects intended to address a perception that some schools are intolerant of conservative political views.

President Trump on Thursday delivered on his promise of an executive order that would hold colleges that receive federal research funding accountable for protecting free speech. However, his bombastic rhetoric in a White House East Room ceremony wasn’t matched by the modest language of the order.

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday protecting freedom of speech on college campuses, surrounded by student activists who have said conservative views are suppressed at universities. Trump said he was taking “historic action to defend American students and American values that have been under siege.”

The executive order that President Trump signed on Thursday, designed to protect free speech on college campuses, was less harsh than many critics had feared. Still, controversy clung to the measure, with constitutional-law scholars and higher-education leaders calling it unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon signed his much-hyped executive order on campus free speech — which he deemed a “historic action to defend American students and American values” that have “been under siege” on campuses.