Posted on 03/21/25
| News Source: WSJ
Columbia University will cede to President Trump’s far-reaching demands in negotiations over $400 million in federal funding he revoked this month, according to a memo from the school to the administration.
Columbia agreed to ban masks, empower 36 campus police officers with new powers to arrest students and appoint a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies as well as the Center for Palestine Studies.
Control of the Middle East department has been a central dispute in negotiations and sparks controversy across campus. Faculty at Columbia and nationwide are expressing deep reservations about letting the federal government dictate how they can operate an academic department. The new vice provost, appointed by Columbia, will review curriculum, nontenure faculty hiring and leadership “to ensure the educational offerings are comprehensive and balanced.”
Columbia’s acquiescence is a significant moment in the intensifying battle between Trump and elite universities. Trump campaigned on curbing what he sees as leftist ideology in higher education, and has moved aggressively to investigate allegations of campus antisemitism, with Columbia as his main focus.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration pulled federal grants and contracts over concerns that the university failed to adequately protect Jewish students. Columbia was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that disrupted campuses last year.
The Trump administration laid out nine demands for the university to meet as a precondition to start talks about the federal funding. On top of those nine demands, Columbia now says it is already taking additional actions to encourage more intellectual diversity at the historically left-leaning institution.
The agreement follows a tense week of meetings between the government’s recently created task force on antisemitism and the university’s board of trustees and interim President Katrina Armstrong.
“We have worked hard to address the legitimate concerns raised both from within and without our Columbia community, including by our regulators, with respect to the discrimination, harassment, and antisemitic acts our Jewish community has faced in the wake of October 7, 2023,” the school wrote in the unsigned memorandum.