‘ Colleges must comply with all national antidiscrimination rules if they are going to receive governmental money,’ education minister says
The Trump administration on Friday announced it is pulling$ 400 million in federal resources from Columbia University, citing concerns over prevalent and unregulated hatred at the Ivy League organization.
The Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Education Department and U. S. General Services Administration up “announced the immediate withdrawal of around$ 400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the university’s continued silence in the face of persistent abuse of Jewish kids”.
” These cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow”, the agencies stated in a news release.
Columbia may also be the tip of the iceberg, as far as Trump is concerned.
” Trump earlier this week threatened to pull federal funding from colleges he accused of allowing’ illegal protests’ on campus”, Axios reported. ” The State Department also plans to use AI to revoke the visas of foreign nationals who appear’ pro-Hamas.'”
The newly formed U. S. Department of Justice’s Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism also has plans to visit nearly a dozen campuses as it seeks to root out antisemitism in higher education.
Columbia currently holds more than$ 5 billion in federal grant commitments, the federal agencies noted. Columbia’s endowment current sits at about$ 14.8 billion, according to an October 2024 report.
” 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”, said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in the news release. ” 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 said. ” Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer”.
In a statement to the Free Press, a Columbia spokesperson said:” We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding”.
” We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff”.
The school was given a warning letter by the Trump administration that its federal funding may be revoked due to “potential compliance concerns, false claims or other infractions”, The College Fix reported on Thursday, adding:
The Ivy League institution has faced accusations for years about allowing antisemitism to continue unabated. These accusations accelerated after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and subsequent campus pro-Palestinian protests.
One protest at Columbia last spring  , resulted , in more than 200 arrests and prompted the university to cancel graduation. Then, in August, three administrators resigned after being caught mocking Jewish leaders and students in a series of texts,  , The Fix , reported , at the time.
Last year, the university also disciplined Jewish Israeli Professor Shai Davidai, suspending him from campus” for speaking out against anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-American terrorism”, according to his X , profile.
Davidai, who teaches at the Columbia Business School, said an imam encouraged pro-Palestinian students on campus to “take]him ] out” during an August webinar,  , The Fix , reported.
The new antisemitism task force is also currently investigating George Washington University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Berkeley, University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California.
MORE: Trump admin warns Columbia U. could lose funding over antisemitism’ inaction’
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: The most famous building on Columbia’s campus.
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