Chancellor Kent Syverud said Syracuse University will “continue to vigorously protect freedom of expression” after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that threatens to pull federal research funding and education grants from universities that don’t uphold federal standards of free speech and expression.

The order requires 12 different federal agencies to monitor whether institutions receiving federal research funding and education grants comply with free inquiry standards. In his statement, Syverud said college campus should respect the First Amendment. SU has taken “bold and concrete steps” to become a campus where freedom of expression is accepted, he said.

Trump threatened during a signing ceremony at the White House on Thursday to pull “billions and billions” of federal research funding as a result of the executive order, ABC News reported.  

SU student Justine Murray, a sophomore in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, stood beside Trump with nine other students as he signed the executive order.

The order also calls for a website, through the Office of Federal Student Aid, that informs federal student loan borrowers of how much they owe and information on their monthly payments. The website should be available by Jan. 1, 2020, according to the order.

It also requires the College Scorecard — an online tool that compares the value of colleges and universities — to be updated annually and expanded to include the average debt and loan default and repayment rates for students at each institution.

Syverud’s statement reads, in full:

“I strongly believe that our nation’s college campuses need to be places where the First Amendment is respected, and where the full diversity of political views can be civilly discussed. To that end, in recent years Syracuse University has taken bold and concrete steps – well beyond those taken by many of our peers – to be a place where academic freedom and freedom of expression is protected and celebrated. At the same time, there remains more we can do to improve both in process, and in our community’s understanding and respect for our U.S. Constitutional system. I can’t imagine academic freedom or the genuine search for truth thriving here without free speech, and for that reason Syracuse University will continue to vigorously protect freedom of expression on behalf of all members of our campus community.”

Published on March 22, 2019 at 5:35 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326