To help the Trump administration’s worries over widespread hatred at the university and to work to restore$ 400 million in federal money, Columbia University will apply a laundry record of plan changes.
According to Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong, the Ivy League organization has approved changes to the institution’s agreement to ban masks used to mask identities during school protests, hired 36 special police officers who can detain students, impose stricter administrative standards, and increased its administrative policies, among others.
The university may make a dean position to evaluate and keep supervision of its Middle East studies programs, according to a four-page memo outlining the changes. An development of “intellectual variety among faculty” is also on tap.
The University will appoint fresh faculty members with mutual opportunities in the sections of Economics, Political Science, and School for International and Public Affairs, according to the letter.
Columbia will also pledge as part of the changes,” to greater institutional neutrality.” Additionally, it will review its admissions practices because” we have identified a recent decline in both Jewish and African American enrollment, and we will closely examine those issues.”
The Trump administration’s decision to revoke$ 400 million in federal grants and contracts as a result of the school’s” continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students” follows.
At this time, it’s not known if the Trump administration will accept the modifications as sufficient to bring the funding back.
In her memo, Armstrong stated that” 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.”
Some pro-free speech and academic freedom advocates claim that Columbia resisted and that this sets a bad example.
The concession represents a significant win for the Trump administration in its conflict with top universities, according to The Hill, and it demonstrates how the federal government’s approach of removing money could be used to force changes.
Columbia has been the site of a lot of antisemitism and controversy, most notably when pro-Palestinian students seized a campus building last spring. After anti-Israel student protesters smashed windows and erected barriers inside Hamilton Hall during the April incident, Columbia locked its campus to everyone but essential personnel.
Some students reported being assaulted, and a few custodians were taken prisoner and had to fight their way out of the melee. Additionally, the building was thrashed and vandalized. After police wearing riot gear were called in, the situation was resolved.
After more than 200 anti-Israel protesters were detained on campus over a tent encampment that refused to disband, Columbia ended up canceling its 2024 commencement. The students involved in the end received discipline earlier this month.
MORE: When pro-Palestinians took control of building, Columbia janitors had to fight to get out.
New York City’s Columbia University / Shutterstock IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT
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