Teenagers, Professors, and the First Amendment: A Lesson in Civics

If you’ve ever argued with a teenager, you’ve probably heard the phrase: “It’s a free country! I can do whatever I want!”Usually, this comes after you’ve told them they can’t borrow the car, skip school, or blast music at 2 a.m. They invoke “freedom” as if it’s some kind of unlimited credit card—never mind that someone else is footing the bill.

Well, it turns out that many university professors and administrators have a similar grasp of the First Amendment. With the federal government placing new restrictions on grant money that universities use to fund Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, radical faculty are crying foul. “This is an attack on free speech!” they lament. “We have a constitutional right to this funding!”

Hold on—let’s run that back.

Here is what the White House Press Secretary told us:

DEI (institutionalized discrimination) is now illegal. Leftist lobbying groups and universities immediately objected saying “it’s a free country I can do what I want!”

You Have the Right to Speak, Not the Right to Federal Money

The First Amendment guarantees that you can express your opinions without government censorship. It does notguarantee that taxpayers will subsidize those opinions. The government deciding not to fund your social justice initiative isn’t the same thing as silencing you. It simply means Uncle Sam is no longer picking up the tab.

Imagine a teenager shouting, “You can’t take away my allowance! That violates my rights!” No, kid, it doesn’t. Your parents choosing not to fund your questionable spending habits—whether it’s junk food, video games, or an ill-advised face tattoo—doesn’t mean you’ve lost your freedom. It means you need to find another way to fund your lifestyle.

Likewise, university faculty are still free to teach, research, and hold meetings about DEI to their heart’s content. They just can’t assume that federal grants exist as a bottomless piggy bank to pay for it. The First Amendment does not entitle you to other people’s money.

Irony Alert: The Real Chilling Effect Comes from the Radical Left

There’s a delicious irony in watching radical leftist professors suddenly become First Amendment absolutists—after spending years suppressing dissent on their own campuses. For decades, conservative Christian professors have faced a chilling effect for merely expressing their beliefs. They’ve been blacklisted, denied tenure (not hired in the first place), and investigated for “wrongthink” if they dared to question progressive orthodoxy.

Where was the concern for free speech when conservative faculty were being deplatformed? When Christian professors were told their views on marriage, gender, or human dignity were “harmful” and had no place in academia? When university policies created an environment where only one ideological perspective could be expressed without fear of professional retaliation?

It turns out that universities are all for "free speech"—so long as they’re the ones defining what speech is acceptable. But now that their own funding is under scrutiny, they’ve rediscovered the Bill of Rights.

A Teachable Moment (For Those Willing to Learn)

It seems the folks who claim to be the intellectual elites could use a refresher on Civics 101. The First Amendment protects your right to speak, but it does not guarantee you an audience, a salary, or a government grant to fund your cause. You don’t have a constitutional right to taxpayer-funded activism.

The real test for these professors is whether they are willing to apply the same principles they demand for themselves to others. Will they fight for the free speech of those with whom they disagree? Or is the First Amendment just another rhetorical weapon to be used selectively?

Universities love to promote themselves as bastions of “critical thinking.” Perhaps it’s time they practice some.

Call to action: For those of us at state universities, let’s be vigilent to watch how administrators and radical leftists try to get around these laws. The public has a right to know how their tax money is spent, even if that means it is spent by ASU on required DEI training about how white people are unconsciously racist. Readers, please share my posts widely so this message continues to reach parents, potential students, and other affected communities.

The times, they are a-changin’.