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Columbia caves to Trump, setting dangerous precedent for higher ed [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-07-24
Columbia University has reached a sweeping agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration, ending months of political and financial warfare that turned the Ivy League school into a high-profile test case for Trump’s authoritarian crackdown on higher education.
The university will pay $200 million over three years to settle federal claims tied to alleged discriminatory practices, plus another $21 million to resolve Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations. In return, the federal government will reinstate most of the $400 million in research funding it froze earlier this year and restore Columbia’s access to billions in future grants.
The deal also brings external oversight and forces Columbia to adopt Trump-backed policy changes, including a controversial federal definition of antisemitism that will now guide teaching and disciplinary reviews.
Related | Here is the latest way the Trump administration is attacking colleges
The administration accused Columbia of failing to protect Jewish students and faculty following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and said the school had become a hostile environment. Columbia did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to reforms.
Acting university President Claire Shipman said the agreement ends a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty. She acknowledged the $221 million settlement was a substantial cost but said the university risked losing top scientists and its global research standing if restrictions continued.
“I recognize these are substantial settlements. [But] we had to look at all the facts,” she said. “We have seen not only $400 million in federal grants frozen, but also the majority of our $1.3 billion a year in federal funding placed on hold. The prospect of that continuing indefinitely, along with the potential loss of top scientists, would jeopardize our status as a world-leading research institution.”
Trump saw the deal as a win. On Truth Social, he claimed Columbia had agreed to end what he called “ridiculous DEI policies” and admit students based only on merit. He warned that other universities that had been unfair or misused federal dollars were next on his hit-list.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the Columbia settlement a road map for other elite schools and a seismic shift in the nation’s efforts to hold them accountable.
Columbia’s agreement follows months of behind-the-scenes negotiations in which the university took a less confrontational approach than Harvard University and signaled openness to some administration demands.
The White House responded in kind, agreeing to reinstate most of Columbia’s grants. But Trump has suggested this won’t end his threats against higher education. He told CNN earlier this month that his administration could settle with Harvard next, but said there’s no rush. He added that either deal would involve “a lot of money.”
The outcome at Columbia is likely to carry weight. For universities resisting federal pressure, the message is clear: Columbia backed down and got its money back—but only after making serious concessions. That could weaken Harvard’s hand in court and increase pressure on any school that dares to challenge Trump’s agenda
The administration has made clear this is about more than one campus. Elite universities have been told to rein in supposed antisemitism and dismantle DEI efforts or risk losing access to federal funds.
Columbia was among the first targets of Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus protests and what he claims is rising antisemitism in academia. Columbia’s own antisemitism task force concluded last summer that during the spring 2024 demonstrations, some Jewish students were subjected to verbal harassment, social exclusion, and demeaning treatment in academic settings
At the same time, other Jewish students were active participants in the protests. Organizers have repeatedly insisted their criticism was aimed at the Israeli government and its war in Gaza—not at Jewish individuals or communities.
Since coming under federal fire, Columbia has cycled through three interim presidents and declared that the campus climate must change. But critics argue the federal response has gone far beyond ensuring safety. By forcing schools to adopt new definitions of antisemitism and crack down on political speech, the Trump administration is redrawing the boundaries of campus expression—and raising alarms about free speech and academic freedom.
Columbia’s decision echoes a similar move by the University of Pennsylvania, which earlier this month quietly stripped a transgender athlete of her records following demands from the administration. The message from the White House is clear: Institutions that want to keep their federal funding must fall in line.
Their capitulation spells trouble for Harvard—and really any other university. It doesn’t take much for Republicans to accuse schools of antisemitism or anti-Republican bias. Columbia may have gotten its money back—but only by bending hard. Other universities might not get off so easily.
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