Democracy is defined as a form of government that gives power to the people. But a democracy in which you can get expelled or deported for speaking out against the flawed policies of your country doesn’t quite seem like a democracy, does it? On March 7, the Trump administration sent a letter to Columbia University citing “the cancellation of $400 million dollars in government grants and contracts” since the school allegedly “failed to protect American students from antisemitic violence and harassment in addition to other alleged violations of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” This followed Columbia’s wave of encampments protesting the Israel-Hamas War, as students lobbied for peace and divestment from Israel.

While citing antisemitism as the primary factor in the administration’s decision to cancel funding, it seems much more likely that this decision is an attack on higher education and an attempt at censorship. Perhaps it is an effective one because a few days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a pro-Palestinian campus activist, Columbia advised non-United States citizens to avoid publishing work on “Gaza, Ukraine and protests related to their former classmate’s arrest.” The Columbia Journalism School’s dean even went as far as to say “Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times,” further instilling fear about speaking up against the U.S. government. The lawyer of Mahmoud Khalil, the arrested graduate, said ICE told Khalil his green card had been revoked despite the fact that he was a lawful, permanent resident.

Coming from a political administration that supposedly champions a lack of government interference in cherry-picked areas, such as Second Amendment rights and the free market, this letter is quite ironic. Somehow it is acceptable to carry life-threatening weapons in public and for one individual to possess a billion dollars, yet speaking out against a deadly war is somehow criminal. The First Amendment of the Constitution claims that the government will not pass any law to interfere with “freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” President Donald Trump has shown that he does not need to make any law against the free expression of any of these things. Instead he can simply ignore the law and do as he pleases. Recently, his administration has barred certain media sources from the press pool, banned certain impactful historical media and curricula from schools and libraries and blamed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for awful situations that they most certainly had nothing to do with. 

So we must ask when has it ever been acceptable for the American government to attempt to intimidate a university into expelling or suspending its own students? That is simply not a decision that the federal government has the right to interfere in without proper, lawful escalation. The government is overstepping its bounds.

By directly targeting Columbia, students are some of the people who suffer most. Partially due to the inflammatory reaction of the U.S. government, reporters have been clamoring to get insider information in any way they can. Currently, the school is locked down, with only those with approval being allowed onto the campus. While leaving or entering the campus, though, students can still be harassed by reporters. The government has taken away money that could be used to fund valuable research. Trump’s administration has placed a target on everyone associated with the university, unnecessarily sensationalizing a situation and even bullying uninvolved parties, such as students, researchers and staff members.

It seems more likely that the administration is targeting higher education rather than genuine antisemetic sentiments. This is not honest nor democratic, and the administration’s use of Columbia as an example only serves to silence other universities around the country, rendering them vulnerable as their students continue to take the hardest blows. Money is the primary supporting force of a university, especially one so deeply entrenched in research. Take, for instance, our own school. When the news first came out that funding could be significantly cut to Case Western Reserve University, the school went into a panic. The campus community immediately received an email from President Eric Kaler, detailing what these cuts could mean for studies. Knowledge is power, and the current U.S. administration seeks to centralize that power in the hands of the few and wealthy, forcibly snatching it from everyone else.

And universities are not the only institutions being intimidated into silence. The Trump administration has launched investigations into multiple media sources, seeking to intimidate reporters. Among many investigations and claims, some of the more chilling that the Federal Communications Commission or its members have conducted or stated include: making the claim that NBC breached Equal Opportunities rules, threatening investigation of KCBS radio for relaying information on ICE operations in San Jose, California and actually launching investigations into PBS and NPR stations for advertisements without evidence of wrongdoing. Furthermore, even before the presidential election we saw newspapers that endorsed former President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election withhold from any sort of endorsement, likely for fear of retribution should Trump come into office.

It is worth noting that this rise of censorship comes as Trump has planned to impose 25% tariffs. In response, Canada’s former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that the American president has started a trade war, turning the country’s long-time ally against the U.S. and further pushing us into isolation. America is increasingly being cut off from the outside and internally policed. Perhaps that should be enough of an indication to hint at where the country is headed.