The Donald Trump administration is pulling $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, canceling grants and contracts over what it calls the school’s failure to curb antisemitism on campus. The decision, announced Friday, follows growing scrutiny of the Ivy League institution’s handling of student protests and allegations of hostility toward Jewish students.
Just five days earlier, federal agencies signaled they were considering suspending $51 million in contracts with Columbia and reevaluating its eligibility for over $5 billion in future federal grants. The move comes despite the university’s recent efforts to step up disciplinary actions against students critical of Israel—measures that have alarmed free speech advocates.
However, those actions were evidently not enough to satisfy the government.
“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Friday.
She later posted on X that she had a “productive meeting” with Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, and looked forward to “working together to protect all students.”
Columbia vowed to work with federal officials in hopes of reinstating the lost funding.
“We take our legal obligations seriously and understand the gravity of this announcement. We remain committed to combating antisemitism and ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff,” the university said in a statement.
It remains unclear which research projects or programs will be affected by the funding cutoff. Columbia, which operates a major medical center among other initiatives, said it was reviewing the decision. The Education Department, which issued Friday’s announcement alongside the Health and Justice Departments and the General Services Administration, did not immediately respond to inquiries.
The timing of the announcement has left research leaders at Columbia scrambling as they finalize budgets for the next academic year. “People are very worried about what this means,” said oceanographer Robert Newton, a retired senior research scientist who continues to teach at the university.
Newton, who is Jewish, rejected the government’s claims, calling them “a complete falsehood” and arguing that Columbia is not a hotbed of antisemitism, nor indifferent to Jewish students’ concerns.
However, some saw the funding cut as justified. Columbia/Barnard Hillel, a Jewish student group, welcomed the move. Executive Director Brian Cohen called it “a wake-up call” for university leaders to take antisemitism and harassment more seriously.
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Meanwhile, civil liberties advocates condemned the decision. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, called it an unconstitutional attempt to “coerce colleges and universities into censoring student speech and advocacy that isn’t MAGA-approved, like criticizing Israel or supporting Palestinian rights.” A coalition of pro-Palestinian protesters did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Columbia is the first target in President Donald Trump’s push to strip federal funding from colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which began in October 2023.
The university was at the center of U.S. campus protests over the war last spring, when pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment that inspired similar protests nationwide. Some later occupied a campus building, leading to dozens of arrests when police cleared the site.
Amid growing pressure, congressional Republicans grilled then-President Minouche Shafik over Columbia’s handling of antisemitism allegations. Shafik vowed to confront the issue but resigned four months later. A university task force later reported that Jewish and Israeli students were ostracized, humiliated in classrooms, and subjected to verbal abuse during the spring protests.
More recently, smaller groups of demonstrators have staged brief building takeovers at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College, protesting the expulsion of two students accused of disrupting an Israeli history class. Several were arrested Wednesday after an hourslong occupation of a campus building.
Protesters argue that criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza or expressing solidarity with Palestinians is not inherently antisemitic. Some students and legal advocates see Columbia’s disciplinary crackdown as an attempt to appease federal officials by suppressing pro-Palestinian speech.
Columbia is among several universities now under federal investigation for alleged antisemitism, alongside institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; Northwestern University; and Portland State University, according to an AP report.
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