The informational letter offers guidance following White House actions targeting free speech.
Act: Tell universities to protect free speech on campus
PORTLAND – The ACLU of Maine today sent a letter of support to the University of Maine system offering guidance for leaders to protect academic freedom and equal access to education in the face of threats from the Trump administration.
The letter follows federal pressure to surveil or punish international students and faculty based on constitutionally protected speech. The White House is attempting to pressure university officials to target immigrant and international students, faculty, and staff, including holders of non-immigrant visas and lawful permanent residents or others on a path to U.S. citizenship, for exercising their First Amendment rights.
The letter was prompted by two executive orders – Executive Order 14161, titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and other National Security and Public Safety Threats” signed on Jan. 20, 2025, and Executive Order 14188, titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” signed on Jan. 29, 2025 – and related communications from the White House. Additionally, this information is especially timely following a recent Truth Social post from President Trump threatening to stop federal funding for “any College, School, or University that allow[s] illegal protests,” and proposing that “agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.”
“The federal government is trying to pressure colleges and universities to violate the rights of international students, faculty, and staff for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said ACLU of Maine Legal Director Carol Garvan. “In the spirit of furthering our common commitment to academic freedom and equal access to public education, we hope this letter can be a helpful resource as Maine’s public universities navigate these unprecedented orders. Colleges and universities are pillars of free expression and open inquiry, and students and faculty must be able to freely engage in political discourse without fear of official retaliation.”
The letter outlines four key principles universities should adhere to when addressing campus speech:
- Colleges and universities should encourage robust discussion and exploration of ideas by students, faculty, and staff, regardless of their nationality or immigration status.
- Nothing obligates universities to act as deputies in immigration law enforcement – to the contrary, universities do not and should not veer so far from their core mission for good reasons.
- Schools must protect the privacy of all students, including immigrant and international students.
- Schools must abide by the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“It is disturbing to see the White House threatening freedom of speech and academic freedom on U.S. college campuses so blatantly. We stand in solidarity with university leaders in their commitment to free speech, open debate, and peaceful dissent on campus,” said Cecillia Wang, the national legal director of the ACLU and co-author of the letter. “Trump’s latest coercion campaign, attempting to turn university administrators against their own students and faculty, harkens back to the McCarthy era and is at odds with American constitutional values and the basic mission of universities.”
This is the fourth set of guidance from the ACLU to universities since 2023. Dozens of ACLU affiliates have taken legal action, distributed campus know-your-rights materials, or issued additional guidance related to protest on campuses.
