Free speech advocate worries ‘student clubs … were improperly shuttered’
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point recently disbanded 12 student groups on campus in response to President Donald Trump’s ban on federal “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs in the Armed Forces.
However, a free speech expert told The College Fix the academy may be “working to restore these clubs.”
DEI groups on campus were told to cease any and all web presence and stop activities immediately, according to a memo released by the school and posted on X.
The disbanded clubs include the Asian-Pacific Forum Club, Contemporary Cultural Affairs Seminar Club, Corbin Forum, Japanese Forum Club, Korean-American Relations Seminar, Latin Cultural Club, National Society of Black Engineers Club, Native American Heritage Forum, Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, Society for Women Engineers Club, Spectrum, and Vietnamese-American Cadet Association.
Upon the memo’s release on Feb. 4, the groups were required to “cancel all trip sections, meetings, events, and other activities” as well as “unpublish, deactivate, archive, or otherwise remove all public facing content.”
The memo also states that these clubs “are not authorized to continue informal activities using Government time, resources, or facilities.”
In addition, West Point’s Directorate of Cadet Activities will conduct reviews of all the clubs at West Point “to ensure that they are aligned with applicable Presidential Executive Orders, Department of Defense guidance, and Department of the Army guidance.”
The College Fix reached out to West Point and several of the clubs impacted by the decision via multiple emails in the last two weeks. Only the school’s Society of Professional Engineers chapter responded, saying they did not wish to comment.
However, these groups may not be permanently disbanded.
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression spokesperson Alex Morey told The Fix via email that West Point has said it is “working to restore these clubs.”
“That’s what we’d like to see,” Morey said.
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“What we were worried about at West Point was that, in trying to comply with the order in winding down its DEI office initiatives, these independent student clubs, that simply happened to be nested under that office in some way, were improperly shuttered,” she said.
Morey also said FIRE is “watching closely for evidence of viewpoint discrimination when schools are implementing President Trump’s Executive Order.”
Although FIRE has opposed pro-DEI regulations for suppressing speech deemed insufficiently supportive of progressive ideology, anti-DEI reforms could similarly overstep if they silence students, faculty, or clubs for expressing certain perspectives, Morey said.
“The Executive Order appears constitutional as written, because it only constrains government power. Schools could still enforce it in an unconstitutional manner if they chill or silence First Amendment protected expression,” she said.
“And as other schools work to comply with this order in a way that doesn’t unconstitutionally impact student or faculty speech, they should know FIRE is watching closely,” she said.
Driving these institutional changes is Trump’s recent executive order titled “Restoring America’s Fighting Force.”
“No individual or group within our Armed Forces,” the order states, “should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.”
“[D]iversity, equity, and inclusion programs … undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness,” it states.
The order also bans the promotion of “divisive concepts,” “race or sex stereotyping,” the idea that “America’s founding documents are racist or sexist,” and “gender ideology.”
MORE: Civil liberties group fighting to end race-based admissions in military academies
IMAGE: Shutterstock/Alan Budman
