A recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump aims to threaten federal funding at any public university that does not support the first amendment. 

“Every year the federal government provides educational institutions with more than $35 billion dollars in research funding; all of that money is now at stake,” Trump said at the signing. “That’s a lot of money. They’re going to have to not like your views a lot, right? If a college or university does not allow you to speak, we will not give them money.”

Of this $35 billion, Iowa State currently receives $164.6 million from seven separate federal agencies — a record amount of federal funding for the university — but Iowa State isn’t worried about losing these funds as they plan to “follow any processes that the administration develops related to these requirements,” according to a statement from John McCarroll, executive director of University Relations at Iowa State.

“As a public university, Iowa State embraces the principles of the First Amendment as part of our core mission,” McCarroll said in the statement. “We support the rights of campus community members to freely express themselves, and we encourage them to exercise these rights in the context of our Principles of Community, which advocate mutual respect and thoughtful dialogue.”

The order directs 12 federal agencies to “take appropriate steps, in a manner consistent with applicable law, including the First Amendment, to ensure institutions that receive federal research or education grants promote free inquiry, including through compliance with all applicable federal laws, regulations, and policies.”

Regardless of whether or not Iowa State could potentially violate any of the measures in the order, some have said the order itself seems to be more of a symbolic move that does not have a clear enforcement mechanism.

“From what I can tell it is mainly rhetorical and not substantive,” said David Andersen, assistant professor in political science, in an email correspondence with the Daily. “I have no idea of what he is actually proposing to do, other than appearing to do what his base wants (clamp down on leftist universities). Without some kind of enforcement mechanism, which I have heard nothing about, it seems like he was just trying to get some friendly news about his actions.

“At this point, I don’t see much coming from it. I think it is just a toothless order to whip up some news coverage that makes it look like he has done something when he really hasn’t.”

This executive order comes in the midst of multiple free speech debates on Iowa State’s campus surrounding issues as recent as February, when student government endorsed a discriminatory bill involving campus speech and a white nationalist speaker came to Iowa State’s campus, along with issues going back to November 2018, when white supremacist chalkings were erased at the so-called “free speech zone.”

Ryan Hurley, freshman in pre-business and events coordinator for Iowa State’s unrecognized chapter of Turning Point USA, was invited to the signing of the executive order in Washington D.C. and said these recent events on campus highlight why the executive order was necessary.

“The reason that they picked me was because I have been tabling outside of Storms Dining Center, and the police pulled me over and told me I could not table outside of the free speech zone.”

University policy allows organizations to table away from the “free-speech zone” and other areas on campus if they fill out the proper paperwork within a designated time period, but Hurley said people should be allowed to table more easily as it “is not just a conservative issue. Liberal groups and everyone should be able to table where they want.”

Hurley said he hopes the order will be able to solve free speech issues like the ones surrounding recent debate and that a group should be able to bring a far-right or far-left speaker at any time to help facilitate a discussion.

Even though some say the order is hard to enforce, Hurley said cases could be decided on a situational basis, like what happened in the lawsuit between the University of Iowa and the student organization, Business Leaders in Christ. The group was able to stay an affiliated campus organization after they removed a member who was part of the LGBTQIA+ community on the grounds that it was the genuine religious belief of the organization.

Others, like Mary Sue Coleman, the president of the Association of American Universities (AAU), of which Iowa State is a member, said the order is unnecessary as research institutions within its organization uphold the First Amendment already.

“However, this executive order is a solution in search of a problem,” Coleman wrote in the statement. “The free and open exchange of ideas and information is already a fundamental cornerstone of the educational mission of America’s leading research universities, and our institutions are fully committed to the protection and preservation of this proud heritage of debate and discussion.”

Ashton Ayers, junior in political science and policy director for Iowa State College Democrats, also questioned the motives and intentions behind the order, saying it was largely pushed for and originated from the efforts of Turning Point USA’s founder Charlie Kirk.

Ayers said policies like this are often advertised as supporting free speech while actually trying to protect “hate speech” and the “legitimization of racism.”

“Free speech is a pillar of personal liberty in the United States — not an excuse to demean, belittle and dehumanize others,” Ayers said. “This policy is misguided and intentionally misleading. Donald Trump is gaslighting the American people.”

Before signing the bill, Trump told reporters American values were under siege on campuses across the country and conservative voices were often suppressed. Ayers said conservative voices say they are suppressed whenever the First Amendment is used to combat “hateful and fallacious” right-wing speech by meeting it with vocal opposition.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a group that focuses on protecting the First Amendment and all of its components on college campuses, said the requirements of universities to “meet their existing legal obligations” should be uncontroversial, but that other parts of the order should be watched closely.

“FIRE will watch closely to see if today’s action furthers the meaningful, lasting policy changes that FIRE has secured over two decades — or results in unintended consequences that threaten free expression and academic freedom,” FIRE said in a statement. “We note that the order does not specify how or by what standard federal agencies will ensure compliance, the order’s most consequential component.”