American colleges must respect free speech in order to receive certain discretionary grant funding from the Department of Education, according to newly finalized priorities that went into effect this week. This shift signals a new era in higher education policy in which public colleges could feel financial consequences for not upholding students’ constitutional rights.

The appointment of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education was perhaps the most contentious Cabinet confirmation battle in the first year of the Trump administration. Cheered and jeered for her unwavering support for school choice, many education observers expected sweeping changes once she took office to correct the bureau’s Obama-era excesses.