How free speech on college campuses is being challenged
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Police and protesters at DePaul last summer during a day of confrontation between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
Last week, UChicago celebrated its famous "Chicago Principles," a policy adopted by more than 100 colleges and universities that codifies free speech for students and scholars while urging institutions to remain neutral on political matters.
Why it matters: New developments are testing these principles of campus free speech in Chicago and beyond.
- The conversation is reheating even as the war in Gaza and accompanying protests appear to be winding down.
The big picture: In the past few days, tenets of the Chicago Principles have been challenged by President Trump and local writer and activist Jamie Kalven, whose father, Harry Kalven Jr., created the policy on which they are based.
Driving the news: Last week, Trump signed an executive order to deport foreign students deemed "Hamas sympathizers" and "pro-jihadist" protesters.
- The order asks officials to show universities how to find grounds to "monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds."
- "We put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," a White House fact sheet about the order says.
The latest: The Trump administration upped the ante late Monday, announcing that the Department of Education will investigate five universities, including Northwestern, for "cases of antisemitism" during the Israel-Gaza war.
- NU officials say they will "fully comply" with investigators.
Meanwhile: Jamie Kalven pushed back on a different aspect of the principles in a Sunday Tribune op-ed, saying that the time for university neutrality is over.
- He predicts the Trump administration will pressure universities "to enforce ideological conformity and to punish dissent" by, among other things, withholding federal funds for research and operations.
Yes, but: Kalven doesn't think this contradicts his father's 1967 Kalven Report, citing one part that warns when "society, or segments of it, threaten the very mission of the university and its values of free inquiry," the university must "oppose such measures and actively defend its interests and its values."
Zoom in: Axios reached out to Northwestern, University of Illinois, DePaul and UChicago to ask how they plan to respond to Trump's order.
- DePaul officials wrote: "DePaul has a robust Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policy and reporting mechanisms in place, and we investigate every complaint. We denounce antisemitism and will continue to do everything possible to ensure DePaul is a safe and welcoming space for every member of our diverse university community."
- University of Chicago representatives did not directly respond to the Kalven op-ed but said: "We are still assessing the executive order's potential impact."
- U of I officials said: "We continue to evaluate all directives and policy changes to understand and assess their impact and our responsibilities as more guidance becomes available."
- Northwestern representatives wrote: "Free expression and academic freedom are among our core values, but we have made clear that these values provide no excuse for behavior that threatens the well-being of others."