U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed executive order to protect free speech on college campuses follows a growing chorus of complaints from conservatives that the nation's universities are attempting to silence their voices when they're heckled, disinvited or their presence on campus is otherwise discouraged.
FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2017 file photo, University of California, Berkeley police guard the building where Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos was to speak in Berkeley, Calif.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made a similar assessment, saying "administrators too often attempt to shield students from ideas they subjectively decide are hateful or offensive or injurious, or ones they just don't like." Trump told the conservatives in the audience that Williams "took a hard punch in the face for all of us."
There were multiple hearings on campus free speech during the past two years when Republicans were in control of both chambers of Congress, though an attempt to legislate on the matter made little headway. A bill from former Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would have banned universities from restricting students' political speeches to certain outdoor areas on campus if that activity is lawful, did not make it through committee.
Terry Hartle, senior vice-president at the American Council on Education, called the proposed order a "solution in search of a problem," adding that free speech is already a core value in American higher education. In some cases, schools have cancelled events over fears of violence. Several took that step following a 2017 white supremacist rally that started at the University of Virginia and later became violent. Days later, Texas A&M cancelled a campus event billed as a follow-up to the Virginia march.
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