President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that Columbia University would pay the federal government $200 million in a settlement over its handling of anti-Israel protests.
In addition to the penalty paid to the federal government, Trump said the university would pay $20 million to its Jewish employees “who were unlawfully targeted and harassed.” In exchange, the Trump administration will unfreeze federal funding and close down several investigations into the Ivy League university.
“I am pleased to announce that the Trump Administration has reached a historic agreement with Columbia University. Columbia has agreed to pay a penalty of $200 Million Dollars to the United States Government for violating Federal Law, in addition to over $20 Million to their Jewish employees who were unlawfully targeted and harassed. Columbia has also committed to ending their ridiculous DEI policies, admitting students based ONLY on MERIT, and protecting the Civil Liberties of their students on campus,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming,” Trump added. “It’s a great honor to have been involved, and I want to thank and congratulate Secretary Linda McMahon, and all those who worked with us on this important deal. I also want to thank and commend Columbia University for agreeing to do what is right. I look forward to watching them have a great future in our Country, maybe greater than ever before!”
In the settlement, Columbia agreed to review its Middle East-related programs and task its senior vice provost with making recommendations to university leaders about “ways to improve and support Jewish students.” Columbia said in a statement that it does “not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement” but recognized that “Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents.”
The settlement also includes a provision prohibiting the university from creating DEI programs.
“Columbia shall not maintain programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity targets, or similar efforts. For example, Columbia will not provide benefits or advantages to individuals on the basis of protected characteristics in any school, component, division, department, foundation, association or element within the entire Columbia University system,” the settlement says.
Admission to the university must also be based on merit, and the university is prohibited from using any proxy, such as a diversity narrative included in an application, for racial preferences, according to the settlement. Columbia will be required to provide a breakdown of students it has accepted and rejected, including data on race, GPA, and standardized test scores, to ensure compliance with the settlement.
Columbia also agreed to hire employees based only on individual qualifications and academic and professional merit, and to ensure that women had access to all female housing, sports teams, locker rooms, and showering facilities.
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” said acting University President Claire Shipman. “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.”
The settlement comes just days after Columbia suspended or expelled more than 70 students, including many who participated in the storming of the university library during anti-Israel protests.