Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, DEI, law firms, and more

We explore how censorship is impacting institutions — from universities to law firms to the Maine House of Representatives.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:40 Federal government cuts Columbia’s funding
16:57 Updates on the Mahmoud Khalil case
27:01 Ed Martin’s Georgetown letter
34:59 Trump targeting law firms
55:01 Maine House censure of Rep. Laurel Libby
01:03:37 Outro

Read the transcript: https://www.thefire.org/research-lear...

Guests:
Will Creeley, FIRE’s legal director
Conor Fitzpatrick, FIRE’s supervising senior attorney
Lindsie Rank, FIRE’s director of campus rights advocacy

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Show notes:
“DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA announce initial cancelation of grants and contracts to Columbia University worth $400 million” U.S. Department of Justice (2025) https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doj-hh...
HHS, ED, and GSA follow up letter to Columbia. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Government Services Administration (2025) https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics...
“Columbia yields to Trump in battle over federal funding” The Wall Street Journal (2025) https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education...
“Advancing our work to combat discrimination, harassment, and antisemitism at Columbia” Columbia University (2025) https://president.columbia.edu/sites/...
“Columbia caves to feds — and sets a dangerous precedent” FIRE (2025) https://www.thefire.org/news/columbia...
“ED, HHS, and GSA Respond to Columbia University’s Actions to Comply with Joint Task Force Pre-Conditions” U.S. Department of Education (2025) https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-r...
“FIRE demands answers from Trump admin officials on arrest of Mahmoud Khalil” FIRE (2025) https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-dem...
“Brief of Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner's Motion for Preliminary Injunction - Khalil v. Joyce” FIRE (2025) https://www.thefire.org/research-lear...
“​​We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio via X (2025) https://x.com/marcorubio/status/18988...
“‘ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a radical foreign Pro-Hamas student on the campus of @Columbia University. This is the first arrest of many to come.’ President Donald J. Trump” The White House via X (2025) https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/18991...
“WATCH: White House downplays stock market declines as ‘a snapshot’” PBS NewsHour (2025) https://www.youtube.com/live/YKXyQSuM...
“Secretary Rubio's remarks to the press” U.S. Department of State (2025)    • Secretary Rubio's remarks to the press  
“Mahmoud Khalil. Notice to appear.” Habeeb Habeeb via X (2025) https://x.com/habeebhabeeb/status/190...
“Alien and Sedition Acts” National Archives (1798) https://www.archives.gov/milestone-do...
Ed Martin’s letter to Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor. (2025) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YX4P...
Dean Treanor’s response to Ed Martin. (2025) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nSWI...

*For the full list of sources, please go to our Substack! https://sotospeak.substack.com/