There's a debate brewing at some of the nation's most prestigious universities over new rules they say could threaten their access to key grant money. At issue: recent moves by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations to tighten grant guidelines in an effort to keep funds from being funneled to terrorist networks or their supporters.

The groups adopted the stiffer regulations after lawmakers lit into Ford for awarding grants to what turned out to be a radical Palestinian organization engaged in anti-Semitic activities. Under Ford's new rules, grants will be limited to groups that do not "promote or engage in violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state."

So what's the big deal? Academic powerhouses Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Stanford, and the universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago say the regs are so broad they could end up disqualifying legitimate grant applicants. "The university needs to be a place," says Richard Saller, provost of the University of Chicago, "where there is open expression and debate."

Wide net. Under the new guidelines, however, Saller and others say, the foundations could cut off everyone--even professors--at the university if a student group subsidized by a school engages in an activity the foundations view as promoting bigotry, terrorism, or "the destruction of a state." The net has been cast so wide, Saller says, that the foundations might consider something like students' displaying of pictures of Palestinian refugee camps--which occurred a few years ago on campus--as pushing terrorism and, hence, in violation of the rules.

The foundations will meet with the protesting colleges to try to allay their concerns. But a Ford spokesperson said the restrictions are a fair way to limit the funding of actions and words perceived as promoting terrorism, bigotry, or violence. "They tend to go together," says Ford's Alex Wilde. "You have to judge both things." -Julian E. Barnes