Academic Freedom: Ensuring Free Speech for All

Guest Opinion. Executive orders and declared intentions to drastically alter both K-12 and higher education filled President Trump’s first 100 days. From making promises to dismantle the Department of Education to threats to pursue legal action and withhold federal funds from universities that don’t align with the Administration’s mandates, the future of access to higher education for all students, and free speech in academia from curriculum to expressing one’s opinions has brought academic freedom in higher education to a flash point.

What exactly is academic freedom?

Generally stated, educators can express and share ideas with students without excessive interference or influence from the government, as protected by the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Below are just a few examples of how the Trump Administration’s executive orders can impinge on academic freedom.

Native Programming is Not DEI

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been a hot topic for President Trump from the first day of his second term. He views DEI efforts as “illegal discrimination” and an affront to merit-based opportunity, even though these practices were enacted to ensure minority students and graduates could access the same educational and career opportunities as their peers.

The Trump Administration sought to halt funding to colleges and universities that do not cease DEI practices by executive order, employing a novel legal strategy that argued the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision banning affirmative action in college admissions should also be applied to ending programs at public schools that serve specific racial groups. The Supreme Court’s decision made clear that it only applied to admissions processes.

American Indians and Alaska Natives are not a racial group, instead Tribal people are citizens of sovereign nations in addition to being U.S. citizens. Tribal peoples’ relationship with the U.S. is based on their citizenship in sovereign nations which entered treaties and trust relationships with the federal government. These legal relationships conferred obligations on both the Native Nations and the United States.

The Department of Education affirmed this relationship with a letter released the week of April 28 recognizing that tribal citizenship is a constitutional political designation. Despite this relationship, however, in an effort to “pre-comply” with the earlier letter the Department issued ordering a cease and desist of all DEI programming, many colleges and universities eliminated programs for Native students, such as Native commencement ceremonies, the closure of Native student centers, and more.

Three separate federal courts have recently issued rulings on cases brought by teachers’ unions and the N.A.A.C.P., among others, temporarily blocking the administration, at least for now, from cutting billions of dollars in federal funding that pay for teachers, counselors, and academic programs for institutions that do not comply with the executive order.

Judge Landya B. McCafferty of the Federal District Court in New Hampshire said the Trump Administration had not provided an adequately detailed definition of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in its executive order. She also noted the policy threatened to restrict free speech in classrooms and overstepped the executive branch’s legal authority over local schools.

Although the Trump Administration has not offered a detailed definition of “illegal D.E.I. practices,” it suggested efforts to provide targeted academic support or counseling to specific groups of students is in essence illegal segregation. The administration also argued that lessons on institutional racism concepts are discriminatory toward white children. Education and legal officials are challenging this as a free speech violation.

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in an interview with The New York Times that educators and schools must be guided by what is best for students rather than fear of illegal restrictions and punishment from the federal government.

Helping or Hijacking Higher Ed?

The Trump Administration is seeking control over higher education through changes to accreditation processes and funding.

The mandatory accreditation process ensures institutions meet certain educational standards and fosters public trust in institutions. It also enables higher education institutions to receive federal financial aid. President Trump claims changes are needed to hold colleges accountable for “ideological overreach” and to increase “intellectual diversity.”

The revocation of federal funds for research is another way the current administration threatens to hijack higher ed. Whole departments have been decimated, particularly in the environmental and climate science fields.

Eyes Wide Shut on American History

The “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” agenda is attacking libraries, museums, and classroom curricula. At its core, it proposes re-writing history from a singular, white, heteronormative, male point of view. This would deprive current and future American students of an accurate depiction of our Nation’s history and the contributions of all its people—including women, children, and Americans from every racial, ethnic, and spiritual tradition. The greatest threat to American students is this agenda would prohibit them from understanding their histories, languages, cultures, and rights well enough to fight for positive change.

After a generation under these policies, would anyone remember the Enola Gay, the diverse soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima, or Harriet Tubman? More importantly, would students understand the rights granted to them by the U.S. Constitution no matter their creed or color? Would Native students once again be prohibited from studying their languages and cultures, as happened during the boarding school era? Would tribal colleges, the repositories of their tribal nations’ cultures, languages, and histories, be at risk?

Attacks on academic freedom do not just impact women, ethnic and racial groups, and American Indian and Alaska Native tribal members. The future of every student is harmed by these policies, whether Native American or any other American.

Unfortunately, there is certainly precedent for this. Past federal policy worked to eliminate Native cultures, not only by prohibiting students at residential boarding schools from speaking their Native languages but by banning Indigenous spiritual practices. The “Ghost Dance War” and subsequent massacre at Wounded Knee demonstrate the far end of this slippery policy slope. The American Indian Religion Freedom Act became law only as recently as 1978 to protect Native rights to practice their own spiritual beliefs and traditions. Overall, Native people have been free to speak their languages, gather communally, and practice their spiritual traditions for less than half a century without persecution by the federal government.

The Importance of TCUs for Natives and the Nation

Academic freedom is a pillar of democracy. It is not just the freedom of individuals to study what one wants but it is also the democratic right of communities to decide for themselves what skills and roles they need to stay strong. Communities like tribal college communities can design programs and curricula that address their community needs to grow talent to meet their workforce needs while also ensuring students graduate with accurate knowledge about the histories and traditions of the cultures they will serve.

Tribal colleges and universities were designed to meet the educational, cultural, and economic needs of their specific communities. Their quality academic programs help to develop the critical thinking skills of their students, preparing them to tackle some of the most pressing issues in human history. TCUs also teach the true history of the collective experience of Native peoples and preserve and pass on Indigenous cultures, spiritual traditions, and languages. In short, tribal colleges and universities are repositories of Indigenous ways of knowing and cultures, which are all proven to increase not only the academic success of students who attend them, but to ensure the wellbeing and very survival of Indigenous communities.

We cannot let academic freedom end with the signing of an executive order.

Cheryl Crazy Bull, Wacinyanpi Win (They Depend on Her), the President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, is a citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. She has been in her position with the American Indian College Fund since 2012. 

More Stories Like This