St. Louis student activists are concerned that President Donald Trump’s threat to crack down on college and university campus protests may have a chilling effect. Last week, the president wrote on social media that he would withhold federal funding for schools that “allow illegal protests” on campus. He added that students who participate in protests would face expulsion or arrest and that foreign students would be deported.
“It's a pretty scary time for people who are interested and passionate about issues of justice, racial equity and, frankly, democracy,” said Washington University senior Andrew de las Alas, who was one of 100 people arrested at an anti-war protest last year.
In the days since he issued his warning, Trump has followed through on his threat. On Friday, his administration pulled $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, where students have engaged in pro-Palestinian protests against the Israeli attacks on Gaza. And on Sunday, U.S. immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student who is a permanent U.S. resident, for his role in leading campus protests.
“They want people to feel vulnerable. They want people to feel under threat. They want people to feel that they're constantly being watched and surveilled,” said Chris Tinson, history professor and chair of African American Studies at St. Louis University. “Obedience is the goal. Get everyone in line, get everyone quiet, get everyone saying yes to whatever comes out of the White House right now.”
Throughout history, universities have relied on campus, community and even military police to disrupt student movements, Tinson said — even as recently as during the Biden administration.
“You did have the use of force to expel people, to arrest people, to break up encampments, and the policing of what they deemed ‘antisemitic rhetoric,’” he said. “But the open contempt for just learning in general, that's what we're feeling under this regime right now.”
In addition to Trump’s threat to withhold federal grants and contracts, Republican lawmakers have proposed an endowment tax increase that could hurt both public and private colleges. Tinson said this has led to a culture of fear not just among student activists but institutions.
“If you threaten the endowments, [you] threaten to close the doors of the university,” Tinson said. “So the [universities] see the one-plus-one on that. But I think it's something that they're not going to be able to win at because I don't think that you can appease this energy, ever. This energy feeds on that fear and that vulnerability. The more that it knows that it can eat through that vulnerability, it'll look for more things to take.”
Washington University sophomore Saanvi Bathla is concerned the university will take “far more egregious” actions in the wake of Trump’s announcement.
“Things have honestly been pretty scary. People have been afraid of showing support for Palestine and other social movements on campus,” she said. “It's been a lot of confusion with the amount of misinformation that's been spread about people who support movements like Palestine — fear that they're antisemitic, which is absolutely bogus. And so there's been a lot of work to … deconstruct some of the myths that have been said through the media and campus administration alike.”
Even though there’s anxiety among student activists, Bathla added, they will keep demonstrating.
“It's not a time for despair at all. Things will get worse, but we won't be stopped. That won't stop us from celebrating, resisting and fighting for liberation,” she said.
As one of the co-founders of Occupy SLU, St. Louis University senior Nadia Abusoud helped organize several protests over the past couple of years, including pro-Palestinian anti-war protests, and demonstrations against recent federal deportation policies. Since she will graduate soon, Abusoud is focused on preparing the next generation of college student activists for the actions to come — sharing ways they can protect themselves while protesting and making sure they remember the core values of the Occupy SLU coalition.
“If you have the ability to come out and show your voice, it is your freedom of speech. It may seem like it isn't right now, but it is your freedom of speech, and that is in the Constitution,” she said. “Your rights should be protected. And I feel that if you want to make a difference, and you want your life to make a difference, I would come out and help show support within your community to help make the world a better place.”
Tinson hopes that, despite operating amid a “culture of fear,” institutions keep in mind that protest movements often originate on college campuses because students are receiving an education.
“They do not come there just to protest — this is a misnomer of how we look at the American academy,” he said. “Students are coming there to learn. That's what the university and college has been — a vehicle towards that end. Along the way, your awareness enhances because you're reading things that you weren't exposed to, and you're reading with a different level of depth and precision that you weren't exposed to in K-12. Once that awareness happens, most conscious students want to act on it.
“It's a very difficult time to try to stand behind the questions of free speech and democracy on university campuses,” Tinson added, “but the hope is that through the students, that the university will see the value in leaning more in that direction than silencing and conformity.”
For more discussion on the implications of the federal crackdown on campus protests with Chris Tinson and St. Louis student activists, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
