Details are unclear but U.S. President Trump has threatened to cut off federal research funds to colleges and universities that deny free speech:
In an interview after Trump’s speech, Terry Hartle, senior vice president for the American Council on Education, called the executive order “a solution in search of a problem,” because “free speech and academic freedom are core values of research universities.”
Oh. Well then they shouldn’t have any problem with the President’s position at all, should they?
Some experts believe the President may succeed in using an executive order to restrict research funds. “There’s a history of the federal government requiring universities to do certain kinds of things in order to receive federal research funding,” Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a professor of education at American University, tells The Washington Post. Miller-Idriss gives the example of the government’s ethical guidelines for projects with human subjects. Carolyn Wilke, “Trump Threatens to Cut Federal Research Funding Over Free Speech” at The Scientist
Reality check: If universities would rather cater to the raging Woke than, for example, sign the Chicago Statement. and get on with the business of research, why on earth should the taxpayer fund them?
Can’t they just indulge their vices privately the way the rest of the world does? Open a window, somebody, please!
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See also: Maybe dissent from Darwin can’t kill a career anymore?
FIRE’s tenworst colleges for free speech
and
Jerry Coyne Discovers The Lack Of Intellectual Freedom On Campus