College campuses have become safe spaces where civil rights don’t apply. Principles like free speech, innocent until proven guilty and bans on racial discrimination have been swept aside in a social justice purge that fundamentally endangers civil rights and is often illegal.

President Trump’s CPAC pledge to make research grants to colleges dependent on free speech through an executive order is an important first step.

“Today, I am proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research funds,” the President of the United States said.

Research funds, amount to some $30 billion annually are an important piece of leverage. And, despite much of the media doomcrying about Trump holding kids with cancer hostage (expect this messaging to be deployed once the executive order is), much of that money is wasted on garbage that’s meant to look good on a resume.)

That $30 billion is a fraction of the money that we are putting into colleges. And free speech is one area where colleges now routinely violate civil rights, but not the only one. 

This move is a good start, but higher education institutions should face significant penalties until they respect the entire body of civil right, ending racial discrimination, kangaroo courts and the suppression of political dissent.