Columbia University has agreed to most of the demands issued last week by the government, setting the stage to begin negotiations on restoring $400 million in federal funding and becoming the latest institution to capitulate to President Donald Trump.
In a memo issued Friday afternoon, the university said it will ban face masks “for the purpose of concealing one’s identity”; hire 36 “special officers” empowered to arrest students and remove them from campus; appoint a senior vice provost to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African studies; adopt a formal definition of antisemitism; review its admission procedures to ensure those processes are “unbiased”; and commit to “greater institutional neutrality” — most of which address demands from the Trump administration.
In early March, the administration pulled $400 million in federal grants from the university, citing its “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The administration subsequently issued a list of demands to Columbia “as a precondition for formal negotiations.”
The government’s demand that Columbia place its Middle East, South Asian and African Studies department under “academic receivership” was particularly alarming. Academics told The New York Times they had never witnessed such a blatant effort by the federal government to intervene in a private institution.
The Trump administration’s targeting of Columbia forced the university into a difficult corner. Katrina Armstrong, Columbia’s interim president, said that the loss of the federal funds would have an immediate impact “on research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care.”
Still, Columbia’s sweeping concessions to the administration represent a remarkable moment in academia — and in the university’s history. Academics at Columbia and beyond have expressed dismay at the precedent the school is setting as Trump continues his effort to put educational institutions under his heel. Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia, responded to the news in a social media post: “A sad day for Columbia and for our democracy.” The administration could ultimately decide not to restore federal funds to Columbia, despite the university’s submission to its demands. Neither Trump nor the White House has publicly responded to the announcement of Columbia’s policy changes.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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