The Trump administration is pursuing a legal arrangement that would put Columbia University under federal oversight, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that administration officials are seeking to place a consent decree on the university. This arrangement would make a federal judge responsible for ensuring that Columbia changes its practices and policies regarding campus antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests as laid out by the federal government.
If the administration succeeds, Columbia would have to comply with the decree. This also means that if the judge in charge of the case determines that the university is not complying with federal guidelines, it could be heavily fined and held in contempt of court.
Columbia works to combat antisemitism
This comes after Columbia University said that it was working to address the “legitimate concerns” of the Trump administration after $400 million of federal government grants and contracts to the university were canceled over allegations of antisemitism on campus.
“I want to assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns,” said the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong. “To that end, Columbia can, and will, continue to take serious action toward combatting antisemitism on our campus.”
“The university remains in active dialogue with the federal government to restore its critical research funding,” a university spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.
While the university could fight the decree, the US Department of Justice would have to prove that the Trump administration’s action was warranted. Even still, the Wall Street Journal noted that a court case could take years to settle, during which Columbia could lose larger amounts of federal funding.
Columbia is not the only school to face the administration’s crackdown. Cornell and Northwestern University both had millions of dollars of federal funding frozen, an administration official announced Tuesday.
The administration sent a letter in March to 60 US universities, including Cornell and Northwestern. It said that it could bring enforcement actions if a review determined the schools had failed to stop antisemitic actions on campus.
Trump administration officials initially said that Columbia did not comply with federal anti-discrimination laws, so it was, therefore, ineligible for federal funding.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment on their campuses – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. “Universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding.
“For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”
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