Ep. 241: The government’s money, the government’s rules?

Our guests today signed onto a statement by a group of 18 law
professors who opposed the Trump administration’s funding threats
at Columbia on free speech and academic freedom grounds. 


Since then, Northwestern, Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, and nearly
60 other colleges and universities are under investigation with
their funding hanging in the balance, allegedly for violations of
civil rights law. 


To help us understand the funding threats, Harvard’s recent
lawsuit against the federal government, and where universities go
from here are:


- David Rabban — distinguished teaching professor at The
University of Texas at Austin School of Law


- Erwin Chemerinsky — distinguished professor of law and dean at
UC Berkeley Law


Timestamps: 


00:00 Intro


02:50 Govt’s approach with Harvard and Columbia


05:39 Title VI violations


11:30 Anti-Semitism on campuses


23:02 Viewpoint diversity in higher education


27:12 Affirmative action and the Supreme Court


35:52 Title IX under the Obama and Biden administrations


42:32 Bob Jones University and tax-exempt status


45:53 Future of federal funding in higher education


54:08 Outro


Read the transcript.


Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get
exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and
more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at
thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber
podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.


Show notes:




Academic freedom: from professional norm to first amendment
right David Rabban (2024)




Worse than nothing: the dangerous fallacy of originalism
Erwin Chemerinsky (2022)




“A statement from constitutional law scholars on Columbia”
The New York Review (2025)




Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957)




Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1967)




Federal government letter to Harvard (2025)




“The promise of American higher education” Alan Garber (2025)




Harvard's lawsuit (complaint) (2025)




“Columbia agrees to Trump’s demands after federal funds are
stripped” The New York Times (2025)




“Sustaining Columbia’s vital mission” Claire Shipman (2025)




Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows
of Harvard College (2023)




“What is Title IX? Its history & implications” FIRE
(2025)




Bridges v. Wixon (1945)