The Trump administration announced Friday that $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University would be revoked because of the university’ alleged ongoing tolerance of anti-semitic protests on campus.
Columbia University and a few other schools became the center of controversy after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel and ensuing war was followed by pro-Hamas protests on campuses around the country, with documented calls for violence against Jews.
Protests of this kind spread to campuses nationwide and continue to this day, sometimes threatening Jewish students or locking them out of class or into buildings. As The Center Square previously reported, nationwide campus protests often went beyond Palestinian sentiment and into support for violence.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
The Department of Education has long had this power and does open civil rights investigations into colleges but wielding it to this degree is unusual.
The school can challenge the revocation of funds in court. Whether Columbia will succeed remains to be seen, but the announcement is a warning shot to schools around the country that have had similar pro-Hamas demonstrations.
“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,” she added. “Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”
The administration is cancelling grants and contracts with the school, which has a reported endowment of about $15 billion.
Columbia University’s then President Minouche Shafik testified before Congress at an Education and Workforce Committee Hearing along with other university heads after the Oct. 7 attack, but those academic leaders were widely criticized for a seeming failure to take the antisemitism on campus seriously.
Soon, they began resigning, including Shafik, who resigned in August of last year.
The Department of Education said the revocation of funding is being done in coordination with the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, and the U.S. General Services Administration.
Trump recently warned in a public statement that tolerating antisemitism on campus, which is forbidden by federal law, could cost taxpayer dollars. The administration also issued a warning personally to Columbia University earlier this month. Columbia University has not yet publicly responded to the news.
The Anti-Defamation League recently gave Columbia University a “D” on its antisemitism report card, citing several students who had filed federal complaints over “severe and pervasive” antisemitism on the campus.
The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal reported that the ongoing demonstrations had eroded parents’ trust in the affected colleges.
“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism. This is only the beginning,” said Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and head of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. “Canceling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the Federal Government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff.”
