NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- The Trump Administration said it is canceling $400 million of federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing civil rights complaints against the Ivy League school by Jewish students.
A joint task force of federal agencies said Friday that the move represents the first round of action against schools for their alleged failure to address antisemitism on campus, and that additional measures may follow. Columbia has more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments, the agencies said.
The announcement marks the first significant action taken by officials against a single university after more than a year of hearings and probes into schools for allegedly failing to curb antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. It also adds to a torrent of recent actions against elite schools, including drastically reducing federal research funding.
“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 the statement. “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation.”
Columbia said it is reviewing the announcement and pledged to work with the government to restore the funding. The administration said it is also issuing stop-work orders for grants and contracts Columbia has from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Education Department, immediately freezing the school’s access to those funds.
“We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is,” Columbia said in a statement. The school is “committed to combating antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff.”
The task force said it notified Columbia on March 3 of a comprehensive review of federal contracts and grants amid ongoing probes into the school under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin. The Education Department has received a number of civil rights complaints about Columbia, prompting investigations.
Columbia has also been sued at least three times since October 2023 by Jewish students claiming the school failed to keep students safe from antisemitic harassment. One of those suits was resolved last year after the school agreed to appoint a liaison overseeing safe passage around campus for students with safety concerns. Others are still pending in Manhattan federal court.
Demonstrations swept across US campuses after the attack and Israel’s retaliatory and deadly war against Hamas, which is deemed a terrorist organization by the US. Encampments enveloped Columbia’s West Lawn for several weeks in April, inspiring solidarity protests at colleges across the country that Jewish students said became hotbeds for discrimination and harassment against them.
At Columbia, which is known for its student activism, the demonstrations culminated in a takeover of a campus building by dozens of students and outsiders, who barricaded themselves inside. Police made several arrests after a shocking raid. A congressional committee issued a report last year that found no Columbia students involved were expelled.
In August, Columbia president Minouche Shafik stepped down days away from the start of the new school year.
The canceled funding comes days after anti-Israel protestors at Columbia affiliate Barnard College stormed a building after two students were expelled for interrupting an Israeli history class at Columbia. The demonstration, which disrupted classes and sent a security guard to the hospital, renewed scrutiny of administrators’ handling of college protests. Columbia has said that Barnard handles the discipline of its own students.
In its report, US house members wrote that Columbia stood out for “its egregious failure to combat antisemitism on its campus.”
Protestors have accused Columbia of suppressing free speech and using unnecessary force against them. The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal sued Columbia over the suspension of pro-Palestine campus groups. A New York State court dismissed the suit last year.
President Donald Trump has taken a slew of actions to toughen federal oversight over US higher education, including drastically reducing federal research funding. Universities receive billions of dollars in research funding. Earlier this week, the task force said it would visit 10 schools including Harvard and Northwestern universities to investigate separate incidents of alleged antisemitism.
“Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,” Trump said in a post Monday on Truth Social, without providing a detailed explanation of what would make protests illegal or how his warning would be enforced. “American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!”
— With assistance from Aysha Diallo