President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to increase the amount of information colleges divulge to prospective students, while adding pressure on schools not to discriminate against unpopular political views.
The order follows Trump’s pledge in a speech this month to sign an executive order on university free speech after incidents, including an alleged assault, targeting conservative students.
The executive order will require that, in order to receive federal grants, schools confirm to 12 federal agencies they are abiding by the First Amendment, though the precise enforcement mechanisms remain unclear.
[Opinion: Trump’s executive order won’t solve campus free speech woes]
A senior administration official told reporters on a conference call that “agencies will enforce the order how they are already enforcing grant commissions” and that “the institutions will have to agree to all of these conditions to receive grants.”
It is unclear that the Trump administration intends the order to apply to all flavors of free speech. The administration official refused to say if speech criticizing Israel would be protected by the order. The GOP-led Senate recently passed a bill to squelch advocacy of boycotting Israel.
In response to a question about anti-Israel speech, the official said he was “not going to get into specific areas of free speech” that the administration wants to protect.
The new transparency requirement for universities, however, could have far-reaching effects, as little standardized information currently exists about college education. The order seeks to require publication of data on student earning potential, debt, and loan repayment rates.
“All students should have access to relevant, accurate, and transparent data when making decisions about their education,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a statement.
DeVos said the executive order could “make college more affordable, break down barriers to innovation in higher education, and encourage new approaches and new partnerships for the benefit of students.”
