Trump is freezing funding for universities they don't adr | CBC News (2025)

Mark Gollom · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 19, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 19

U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening to cancel funding for some universities unless they accede to hisdemands to change ideological policy, similar to a pledge Pierre Poilievre has made for Canadian post-secondary schools.

But so far, the Conservative leaderhas been sparse on details ofexactly what kind of action he might take.

Trump's demands,which havesparked condemnationabout interference inacademic freedom,made headlines this week after the White House saidit's freezing more than $2.2 billion US in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University.

This came afterHarvard president Alan Gerberrefused to complywith the White House demands,saying in a letter that the university "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."

Poilievre, meanwhile, has also threatened to defund universities over what he perceives as theirideological slant. In a Christmas Eve tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, Poilievresaid he would"defund wokism and fight antisemitism."

'Put an end to woke ideology'

That tweet was linked to a telephoneinterview he gave WinnipegJewishReview.comin which he was quoted as saying he won't tolerate and will defund"all of those with a woke antisemitic agenda," including universities thatreceive federal funding and all federally funded museums.

He reiterated a similar pledge on March26 when theparty released its Quebec platform, saying a Conservative government would"put an end to the imposition of woke ideology in the federal civil service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research."

The pledge prompted theCanadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) to release a statement "expressing alarm" over Poilievre'spromiseto interfere in the allocation of federal research funding.

"It's worrying that a leader of a political party in Canada would try to dictate how research funds will be granted," said David Robinson, CAUT's executive director. "We've seen the impact of this political meddling south of the border where the Trump administration has launched a full-scale assault on universities and the scientific community. This kind of American-style culture war has no place in Canada."

Beginning with Columbia University, the Trump administration has rebuked post-secondary institutions across the U.S. over their handling of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled campuses last year following the 2023 Hamas-led attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Trump has called the protests anti-American and antisemitic, accused universities of peddling Marxism and "radical left" ideology, and promised to end federal grants and contracts to universities that do not agree to his administration's demands.

On April 3, the White House issued a list of demands to Harvard thatincluded a ban on face masks,limitations on campus protestsand a review of academic departments' biases. About a week later, those demands were expanded to include leadership reforms, changes to admission policy and an end tothe university's recognition of certain student organizations.

The school's president said Harvard has already made extensive reforms to address antisemitism, but that many of the government's demands don't relate to antisemitismand instead are an attempt to regulate the "intellectual conditions" at Harvard.

The roots of 'woke'

While Poilievrehasnot released any details of his proposed plans, he still seemsto be taking lessonsfromthe U.S. with threats to defund, saidPatrick McCurdy, an associate professor of communication at the University of Ottawa.

"I would take it seriously in the same way that hehas doubled down and is serious about his threats to defund the CBC," McCurdysaid. "It's something that people should pay attention to."

McCurdywas also part of a research study that examined the evolution of anti-woke discourse in debates within the House of Commons from 2019 to 2023.

Their examination ofHansard records revealed that in2019, there were onlytwo mentions of the word "woke."By 2023, the Conservatives' use of the word had increased to 63 times, with Poilievreresponsible for 33 instances that year, their study found.

AsMcCurdynoted in a recent article heco-wrotefor Policy Options, the term "woke" is rooted in the African-American experience of racialized violence and originally meant being aware of racial injustice.Progressives then adopted it to encompass broader societal injustices related to feminist, LGBTQ+ and intersectional concerns, he said.

But the word has since been co-optedas a derogatory term used againstsomewho promote such social justice concerns, and are accused of being fixated or authoritarian on issues including identity politics and equity, diversityand inclusion (EDI) policies.

McCurdy's article, titledThe many dangers of Pierre Poilievre's war on 'woke,'arguesthathis policy pledges such asdefunding universitiesover ideologyare just"partan exploitative strategy designed to stoke fears and resentment, entrench divisions and legitimize extreme positions in mainstream politics."

A 'threat to academic freedom'

"I would be interested in reading how he might propose this ... [and] how this militates against the freedom of researchers, academics and universities to do their research," McCurdy told CBC News in a telephone interview. "It'scertainly a threat to academic freedom."

The Conservatives have spoken in the pastabout defunding universities over their campus policies. During his leadership campaign in 2017, Andrew Scheersaid he wouldpullfederal funding from universities that failed to uphold free speech, "shut down debate and can't stand different points of view."

This came in response toinstances where anti-abortion and pro-Israel events were turned away from university campusesafter protests erupted.

Poilievre would later follow up witha similar pledge during his 2022 leadership campaign in which he said if universities want to keep their federal research grants, they'll need to protect academic freedom and guarantee free speech on campus. He also said he would appoint a "free speech guardian" to ensure universities were following those principles.

As for his current policy pledges, the Conservative Party did not respondto questions fromCBC News asking for moredetails. However,in an interview published April 8 by the English-language mediaJewish News Syndicate,Conservative Party candidate Neil Oberman, who is running in the Quebecriding of Mount Royal, said he supports cutting funding to universities that are not doing enough to combat antisemitism on their campuses.

"[Universities] will not receive a single penny from the federal government until they clean up their act," he said.

StéphaneSérafin,an assistant professor of law at the University of Ottawa whobelieves that woke ideologyis a problem atuniversities, said the Liberal government has been very aggressive in imposing ideological requirements on research thatincludes EDI initiatives.

But he said he's unsure what exactlyPoilievre is contemplating.

"Iwould assume that at the very least they'd be looking to remove the kind of EDI requirements that have been added to those research funds. Beyond that, I can only speculate."

Sérafinquestioned whether a Conservative government would add requirements that comply with their ideological preferences, or ifit wouldsimply defund universities.

"Does he want to defund everything, or does he only want to target specific programs?"Sérafinasked of Poilievre's intentions.

"He's never kind of explicitly laid out a plan for how this would be done," he said. "It's kind of like one of those issues where the devilreally is in the details."

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