Free Speech and University Policies

Last week, federal ICE officers detained a Columbia University student over last year’s Israel-Palestine campus protests. The Trump administration revoked grad student Mahmoud Khalil’s green card, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accusing Khalil of “siding with terrorists.” Is the administration infringing on First Amendment rights? 

Federal attention on Columbia University extended beyond the arrest of Khalil. The White House also announced a plan to cancel over $400 million in federal funding for the university over insufficient protections for Jewish students on campus. Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed that Columbia had abandoned its anti-discriminatory obligation to protect Jewish students on campus. Is the federal government overdoing its oversight on college campuses? 

Both Democrats and Republicans have supported expanding the child tax credit, but you’d never know from how they talk about it. Do politicians still value compromise? Or is it all about the glory?