Columbia University agrees to pay more than $220M in deal with Trump to restore federal funding

NEW YORK AP Columbia University informed Wednesday it has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than million to the federal ruling body to restore federal research money that was canceled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus Under the agreement the Ivy League school will pay a million settlement over three years the university reported It will also pay million to resolve alleged civil rights violations against Jewish employees that occurred following the October Hamas attack on Israel the White House disclosed This agreement marks an central step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty acting University President Claire Shipman disclosed The school had been threatened with the anticipated loss of billions of dollars in authorities advocacy including more than million in grants canceled earlier this year The administration pulled the funding because of what it described as the university s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war Columbia has since agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration including overhauling the university s participant disciplinary process and applying a contentious federally endorsed definition of antisemitism not only to teaching but to a disciplinary committee that has been analyzing students critical of Israel Wednesday s agreement which does not include an admission of wrongdoing codifies those reforms while preserving the university s autonomy Shipman noted Columbia s reforms are a roadmap Trump administration says Coaching Secretary Linda McMahon called the deal a seismic shift in our nation s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment Columbia s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to regain the confidence of the American community by renewing their commitment to truth-seeking merit and civil debate McMahon mentioned in a declaration As part of the agreement Columbia agreed to a series of changes previously declared in March including reviewing its Middle East curriculum to make sure it was comprehensive and balanced and appointing new faculty to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies It also promised to end programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes quotes diversity targets or similar efforts The university will also have to issue a account to a monitor assuring that its programs do not promote unlawful DEI goals Crackdown follows Columbia protests The pact comes after months of uncertainty and fraught negotiations at the more than -year-old university It was among the first targets of President Donald Trump s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protests and on colleges that he asserts have allowed Jewish students be threatened and harassed Columbia s own antisemitism task force unveiled last summer that Jewish students had faced verbal abuse ostracism and classroom humiliation during the spring demonstrations Other Jewish students took part in the protests however and protest leaders maintain they aren t targeting Jews but rather criticizing the Israeli cabinet and its war in Gaza Columbia s leadership a revolving door of three interim presidents in the last year has declared that the campus situation necessities to change Columbia agrees to question international students Also in the settlement is an agreement to ask prospective international students questions designed to elicit their reasons for wishing to survey in the United States and establishes processes to make sure all students are committed to civil discourse In a move that would potentially make it easier for the Trump administration to deport students who participate in protests Columbia promised to provide the ruling body with information upon request of disciplinary actions involving student-visa holders resulting in expulsions or suspensions Columbia on Tuesday reported it would suspend expel or revoke degrees from more than students who participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the main library in May and an encampment during alumni weekend last year The pressure on Columbia began with a series of funding cuts Then Mahmoud Khalil a former graduate aspirant who had been a visible figure in the protests became the first person detained in the Trump administration s push to deport pro-Palestinian activists who aren t U S citizens Next came searches of specific university residences amid a federal Justice Department assessment into whether Columbia concealed illegal aliens on campus The interim president at the time responded that the university was committed to upholding the law University oversight expands Columbia was an early test situation for the Trump administration as it sought closer oversight of universities that the Republican president views as bastions of liberalism Yet it soon was overshadowed by Harvard University which became the first higher training institution to defy Trump s demands and fight back in court The Trump administration has used federal research funding as its primary lever in its campaign to reshape higher development More than billion in total has also been frozen at Cornell Northwestern Brown and Princeton universities Administration agents pulled million from the University of Pennsylvania in March over a dispute around women s sports They restored it when school officers agreed to update records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and change their policies The administration also is looking beyond private universities University of Virginia President James Ryan agreed to resign in June under pressure from a U S Justice Department study into diversity equity and inclusion practices A similar scrutiny was opened this month at George Mason University Source