Columbia University has fallen into the Trump administration's demand to recover $400 million in federal funds that have been yanked about anti-Semitism on campus, according to a report Friday.
Morningside Heights University, which was the epicenter of violent anti-Israel protests, agreed to implement mask bans and to take on new leadership to review curriculums for the Middle East, South Asia and African Studies Division and the Centre for Palestinian Studies. Reported by the Wall Street Journalquoting a note to the administration.
The school also empowers 36 campus police officers to arrest students.
The Trump administration pulled out roughly $400 million in grants and contracts from elite schools for failing to push anti-Semitism away on campus on March 7th.
The Ivy League also threatened to collect billions more for handling anti-Israel protests.
This threat only escalated when the administration released a list of nine requests. It called for “prerequisites” for Trump officials to receive future federal cash.
The university was given a Friday deadline to comply with it, and Colombia was instructed to “enforce existing disciplinary policies.” That is, dozens of masked anti-Israel mobs hit the inside in April 2024 by punishing the person responsible for the violent acquisition of Hamilton Hall.
“Meaningful discipline means expulsion or multi-year suspension,” Demand states.
Other changes the White House wanted were reorganising the discipline process and abolishing the university's Judiciary Committee, and placing schools' research units in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa in “academic reception.”
Academic receivers are rare, with the aim of correcting dysfunctional departments by placing a professor or administrator outside of their department.
The mask ban was on the list, except for those worn for religious and health reasons.
“Since October 7th, Jewish students have faced unrelenting violence, intimidation and anti-Semitic harassment on campus, only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” he said when the frozen funds were first announced, “will be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them.”
“If universities are trying to get federal funding to all federal anti-discrimination laws, they must adhere to all federal differentiation laws for too long. Columbia has waived its obligations to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today we show Colombia and other universities that we no longer accept their horrific inaction. ”
The $400 million grant raised reached around 8% of the university's US tax funds.
At the time, Columbia executive directors Brian Cohen and Bernard's Hillel branches said they hope it serves as a wake-up call for administrators.
“There's an anti-Semitism crisis in Colombia, and for several months I've worked with faculty, staff, students, parents and alumni to tackle this crisis and act promptly to avoid lasting damage to the university,” he said.
“This federal action is a wake-up call to take Colombian regime and anti-Semitism and harassment of Jewish students and faculty seriously, and we hope that important university work can continue to help restore these grants and that Colombia can once again become a place where the Jewish community can flourish.”
Still, the Ivy League is still quiet about its plans, even if the deadline is approaching.
The university declined to repeatedly comment on the situation of the negotiations.
