Former President Barack Obama said Thursday he was “deeply concerned” about President Trump’s crackdown on universities and law firms. “I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” Obama said Thursday during a question-and-answer session at Hamiliton College. “I am more troubled by the idea that a White House can say to law firms, ‘If you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively,'" he added. "That kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans." The remarks come as the Trump administration has withheld some federal funding from multiple institutions for alleged inaction on antisemitism and violations of Title IX.   The president has also issued an executive order against law firms he believes were working against American interests.  Obama called for these two entities to stand up for themselves and accept the consequences that may come with that.  “If you’re a law firm being threatened, you might have to say, okay, we will lose some business because we’re going to stand for a principle,” the former Democratic president said. “If you are a university, you may have to figure out, are we in fact doing things right? Have we in fact violated our own values, our own code, violated the law in some fashion?" "If not, and you’re just being intimidated, well, you should be able to say, that’s why we got this big endowment," he added. Universities are frequently questioned about concerns around federal funding when schools like Harvard University have $50 billion in its endowment.   But endowments are a set of donations that typically have a legal obligation to go to a specific aspect of a university and is not largely free money that can be moved around.   Currently, Columbia University has $400 million in federal funding paused over alleged inaction on antisemitism. The Trump administration is investigating billions of dollars in contracts with Harvard and gave a list of demands the university must comply with for the school not to lose money.   ...read more read less