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President Trump fired off a tweet early Thursday that sent chills through higher education circles in California.

The night before, violent protests had forced the University of California, Berkeley, to cancel an event featuring Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing figure and writer for Breitbart, the outlet once headed by the White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon.

“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” Mr. Trump wrote.

As it stands, the president has no legal basis to cut off a university over a First Amendment dispute, said Donald E. Heller, the University of San Francisco provost and a professor of education.