Trump administration issues nine demands to Columbia University to restore federal funding

It is reported that the Trump administration issued nine demands to Columbia University as preconditions for discussing the restoration of $400 million in federal funding that had been canceled. The cancellation of this funding stemmed from previous questions about the university's handling of anti-Semitism issues. This move by the government has sparked widespread discussion about academic freedom and political interference.

These demands include Columbia University adopting the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. This definition has been criticized by scholars and members of the Jewish community for conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. In addition, the government demanded that Columbia University's world-renowned Middle East, South Asia, and Africa studies departments be placed under academic supervision, meaning the government could appoint external personnel to manage the departments for five years.

Other demands include banning masks on campus, granting campus security "full law enforcement authority" allowing them to "arrest and expel agitators," and reforming the admissions process for undergraduate and graduate programs. The Trump administration also demanded that Columbia University enforce existing disciplinary policies, abolish the University Judicial Committee, which includes student and faculty representatives, and concentrate power in the hands of the university president.

The White House demanded that Columbia University meet these requirements by March 20 in order to engage in "formal negotiations" with the federal government, or face the risk of losing all federal funding. The U.S. Department of Education stated in a letter: "We expect your immediate compliance with these critical next steps, after which we hope to engage in a dialogue regarding immediate and long-term structural reforms to return Columbia University to its original purpose of innovative research and academic excellence."

Meanwhile, the Columbia University Judicial Committee announced that students involved in the occupation of Hamilton Hall would face penalties of expulsion, multi-year suspension, and temporary revocation of degrees. One of the expelled students is Grant Miner, president of the Columbia University Student Workers union, who is also a doctoral student at the school. According to the United Auto Workers, Miner was expelled the day before contract negotiations were to begin with the university. In addition, federal immigration agents recently arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student and activist at Columbia University.

Earlier, a federal task force notified Columbia University that it would conduct a "comprehensive review" of its federal contracts and grants as part of its ongoing investigation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The task force consists of four government agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the U.S. General Services Administration. The mission is to investigate alleged anti-Semitic incidents on university campuses since the October 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel and the subsequent outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.

Faced with political backlash, universities such as New York University and Harvard University have adopted the controversial IHRA definition of anti-Semitism to address federal government scrutiny. An anthropology professor at an American university stated that Columbia University's endowment is large enough to absorb losses and subsidize research, but other universities, especially public research universities, will face enormous difficulties, and their research may collapse.

Katherine Franke, a tenured law professor at Columbia University, stated that she was forced into early retirement by the school for expressing concerns about Israeli students entering Columbia University directly after military service, which is part of a broader action against academic freedom. She believes that what is currently happening on campus is anti-Palestinian racism, which is being disguised as a fight against anti-Semitism. Franke added that Florida has been a testing ground for restricting academic freedom, where Republicans are reforming the education system, or perhaps "destroying" it.