President Donald Trump on stage with Hayden Williams, a field representative of the Leadership Institute, who was assaulted at Berkeley campus, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, March 2, 2019, in Oxon Hill, Md. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

The order would withhold federal funds from colleges and universities that do not protect free speech.

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Thursday afternoon that would withhold federal funding from public and private colleges and universities that do not protect free speech on campuses.

As explained by a White House senior official, in order to qualify for federal research dollars, public colleges and universities would have to certify that they are complying with the First Amendment, and private colleges and universities would have to certify that they are in compliance with their own policies.

Trump teased the executive order last month during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he was joined on stage by Hayden Williams, a conservative activist punched at the University of California-Berkeley campus in February.

"If they want our dollars – and we give it to them by the billions – they've got to allow people like Hayden … to speak," he said at the event, receiving a standing ovation.

The move comes as schools across the country have grappled with how to protect the right to free speech on college and university campuses, including for those who may harbor white supremacist, anti-Semitic or other hateful views. The balancing act encompasses ensuring the safety both of on-campus speakers and students who may feel threatened by their views, as well as how to safeguard the campus community from demonstrations associated with such speakers.

The University of California–Berkeley has been ground zero during the latest free speech wars, drawing conservative firebrands like Ben Shapiro, Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter for scheduled speaking engagements, all of which led to protests. Violence during a protest of a planned speech by Yiannopoulos led to the event's cancellation, while a speech by Coulter also was canceled amid concerns about security.

In another high-profile case, white nationalist Richard Spencer's speech at the University of Florida forced the school to shell out an estimated $600,000 in security fees and prompted Florida Gov. Rick Scott to declare a pre-emptive state of emergency.

The violent protests, largely against conservative speakers, underscore the struggle colleges and universities are having walking a line between preserving free speech and acting as a space that showcases a variety of ideas, while at the same time protecting students – particularly those in demographic groups who may feel marginalized or threatened by the ideas espoused by a group or speaker.

In the wake of such protests, nearly a dozen states have enacted laws regarding free speech on college campuses, banning so-called "free speech zones" and requiring campuses to sanction anyone who interferes with the free speech rights of others.

This marks the first official foray into the subject of campus free speech for the Trump administration, though it's far from the first time White House officials have opined on the issue.

A portion of this page is unavailable in this experience. For a richer experience, click here.

Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions called for a "national recommitment to free speech on campus" in 2017, setting the stage for the Department of Justice to take an active role in ensuring First Amendment protections.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is also on record saying state legislators and those in charge of setting funding levels for public universities should put campus officials on notice if they, their faculty or student body try to curb free speech.

"For state legislators – and you have the power of the purse and I wouldn't hope to suggest how you might approach that, but I think that really bringing some of the most egregious examples to the forefront," DeVos said during a question-and-answer session following her address at the annual American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Denver in 2017.

The idea of getting involved is less embraced by members of Congress, including the majority of Republicans, who largely believe that school administrators must tackle the issue head-on.

When the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the topic in 2017, Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee was adamant that Congress not seek a legislative solutions and questioned the purpose of "deliberately inflammatory speakers" that "push the freedom of speech to a limit that creates chaos."

It's unclear what impact, if any, the new executive order would have on colleges and universities as the enforcement mechanisms are unclear. White House officials declined to provide details on how the executive order would be implemented.

The federal government currently provides about $36 billion in research grants, but a White House senior official said the pool of money at risk would be bigger than that, as the executive order would impact other federal higher education grants as well.

The executive order would not impact federal student aid, grants and scholarships, he said.

In addition to addressing campus free speech, the executive order would also require colleges and universities to report average earnings, student loan debt, default rates and loan repayment information for graduates of its specific programs. The information would be published by the Department of Education as part of the College Scorecard.

In addition, the executive order directs the Department of Education to submit policy recommendations to the president about how the federal government could ensure colleges and universities are held responsible when students default on loan repayments.

The president is set to sign the executive order in a ceremony Thursday afternoon.

