Correction Appended: A previous version of this article misquoted David Bruce as saying “roll lanes.” A correction has been made to correctly quote him as saying “rulings”.
The Trump administration’s opposition to campus protests is drawing legal challenges and free speech concerns, leading to debates among professors on Ohio University’s campus.
Recently, the Trump administration withheld $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, citing its handling of student protests urging divestment from weapons manufacturers contributing to the war in Gaza. These protests have drawn criticism for alleged antisemitic rhetoric, according to the Associated Press.
Columbia had to comply with a list of nine demands from the administration to keep receiving funds, which it conceded to March 21, according to the AP. These included placing its Middle East Studies department under the supervision of the senior provost and hiring public safety personnel, allowing them to make arrests and ban protests in academic buildings.
David Bruce, a former Ohio University professor and alumnus, raised the concern that the actions of the Trump administration at universities are similar to McCarthyism.
According to The American Heritage Dictionary, McCarthyism is defined as the practice of making disloyalty or subversion accusations with little regard for evidence, and using unfair investigative tactics to silence opposition.
Bruce said he believes loyalty oaths, popular during the McCarthy era, may return to universities.
In a 1989 article for The Athens News, Bruce interviewed Robert Wieman, a philosophy professor at OU, who was involved in the U.S. Supreme Court Case Wieman v. Updegraff in 1952.
The case challenged Oklahoma’s requirement that state employees, including university faculty, sign a loyalty oath denying affiliation with communist or subversive groups or be terminated. The Supreme Court struck down the law for violating due process and free expression under the 14th Amendment.
Ohio law already includes a loyalty oath for certain state employees. Section 5502.34 of the Ohio Revised Code requires individuals to affirm they will support the Constitution and are not affiliated with organizations advocating the government’s violent overthrow.
“(Loyalty oaths) might seem pretty innocent,” Bruce said. “‘I swear to be loyal to the United States,’ but then you can ask, ‘what does that mean?’ Does that also mean being pro-Russia ... If you are pro-DEI, maybe you're not a good American now.”
Paul C. Milazzo, a history professor, said he does not believe loyalty oaths will return. However, he does think there will be more focus on what curricula at universities look like, and how they should change according to the opinions of the people who fund the institutions.
“You are going to see legislatures taking a harder look,” Milazzo said. “‘What are you teaching? What values? Should we be happy that we're paying you?’”
Bruce said the Trump administration’s punitive actions against universities, such as detaining international students like Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia University, and issuing executive orders eliminating DEI initiatives, reminded him of McCarthyism. According to the AP, at least 300 people have had their visas revoked.
“McCarthy was against communism, and now, I think Trump is against other things,” Bruce said. “The bad guys change, but it's still McCarthyism. McCarthyism would be demonizing a group of people. It's the same tactic — take away due process, take away free speech, take away the right of association.”
Milazzo said some protests have crossed legal lines because they infringe on the rights of Jewish students. He believes the Trump administration is justified in withholding federal funding under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects individuals from discrimination in federally funded programs.
“If you're getting money from the government, you have to sort of live up to certain government regulations and principles, and basic nondiscrimination is one of them, and creating a hostile academic environment for Jews, or anyone really, based on race, class, ethnicity, it's a no-no,” Milazzo said.
Both Milazzo and Bruce said the courts will ultimately decide how to settle the new legal matter of free speech rights at universities.
Bruce said he is hopeful that the courts will check government overreach in cases where the administration has acted out of line.
“I tend to have faith in the legal system, even though Trump seems very willing to disobey the roll lanes,” Bruce says.
Milazzo said he believes many cases of international students being deported result from actual legal violations, though he acknowledged that some cases may be without merit.
“I’m sure a lot of these have merit. It's always the case that a few of them get thrown in that don't,” Milazzo said. “The Trump administration is prone to overreach. It's just the nature of who's at the helm.”
Bruce said students must use their voices to stand up against injustice. He pointed out that remaining silent and going along with things only empowers the corrupt, while speaking out can inspire others to do the same.
