WASHINGTON — Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of
America, praised President Donald Trump March 21 for taking seriously the
assaults she said conservative groups are facing on campuses around the
country.
"No one needs this more than the pro-life generation,"
she said about Trump's executive order to bar federal research grants to
institutions that violate students' free speech on campus and "stifle
competing perspectives."
Hawkins was among about 100 conservative activists at the White
House for the signing of the order.
Ahead of the event, she said that violence against conservative
groups "absolutely happens on campuses all the time."
"Speech considered unpopular is the speech that is
suppressed," she said, adding that vandalism and "outright
theft" of pro-life displays is a common occurrence.
In his executive order, Trump said: "My administration seeks
to promote free and open debate on college and university campuses. Free
inquiry is an essential feature of our nation's democracy, and it promotes
learning, scientific discovery and economic prosperity."
"We must encourage institutions to appropriately account for
this bedrock principle in their administration of student life and to avoid
creating environments that stifle competing perspectives, thereby potentially
impeding beneficial research and undermining learning," he said.
The executive order says that the heads of 12 grant-making
agencies working with the director of the Office of Management and Budget
"will take appropriate steps to ensure institutions that receive federal
research or education grants promote free inquiry, including through compliance
with all applicable federal laws, regulations and policies."
Public colleges and universities would have to certify they
comply with the First Amendment to get grants. The federal agencies include the
departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and
Human Services, Transportation, Energy, Education and the Environmental
Protection Agency. Private colleges and universities would have to comply with
their own stated institutional policies regarding freedom of speech.
In a statement and comments, Hawkins described what she called
"a pattern of harassment" taking place on school campuses.
"Student governments and school officials use a virtual poll
tax on speech they don't like with fees, denial of the use of school fees for
pro-life events, a heckler's veto in which any disgruntled student can shut
down an event, or requiring 'trigger warnings' that pro-life speech is
imminent," she said.
"Such administrative weapons are commonly employed against
those who support both mother and pre-born infant," she added.
"The criminalization of free speech on college and
university campuses has reached epidemic proportions as simply expressing a
point of view that runs counter to academic conventional wisdom can lead to
ostracization and loss of basic freedoms," Hawkins said.
In his executive order, Trump also addressed "the financial
burden of higher education on students and their families," calling it "a
national problem that needs immediate attention."
He said rising student loan debt and low repayment rates threaten
"the financial health of both individuals and families as well as of
federal student loan programs.
"In addition, too many programs of study fail to prepare
students for success in today's job market," he said, adding that his
executive order "will promote greater access to critical information
regarding the prices and outcomes of postsecondary education."