
Ep. 241: The government's money, the government's rules?
from So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
by FIRE
Published: Wed Apr 23 2025
Show Notes
Our guests today signed onto a statement by a group of 18 law professors who opposed the Trump administration's funding threats at Columbia on free speech and academic freedom grounds.
Since then, Northwestern, Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, and nearly 60 other colleges and universities are under investigation with their funding hanging in the balance, allegedly for violations of civil rights law.
To help us understand the funding threats, Harvard's recent lawsuit against the federal government, and where universities go from here are:
- David Rabban — distinguished teaching professor at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law
- Erwin Chemerinsky — distinguished professor of law and dean at UC Berkeley Law
Timestamps:
Intro
Govt's approach with Harvard and Columbia
Title VI violations
Anti-Semitism on campuses
Viewpoint diversity in higher education
Affirmative action and the Supreme Court
Title IX under the Obama and Biden administrations
Bob Jones University and tax-exempt status
Future of federal funding in higher education
Outro
Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.
Show notes:
-
Academic freedom: from professional norm to first amendment right David Rabban (2024)
-
Worse than nothing: the dangerous fallacy of originalism Erwin Chemerinsky (2022)
-
"Astatement from constitutional law scholars on Columbia" The New York Review (2025)
-
Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957)
-
"Thepromise of American higher education" Alan Garber (2025)
-
"Columbiaagrees to Trump's demands after federal funds are stripped" The New York Times (2025)
-
"Sustaining Columbia's vital mission" Claire Shipman (2025)
-
Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023)
-
"What is Title IX? Its history & implications" FIRE (2025)
-
Bridges v. Wixon (1945)