Columbia University has agreed to pay more than $220 million to the federal government to restore federal research money that the Trump administration canceled over the Ivy League university’s failure to curb antisemitism on its campus.
Under the agreement, which settles more than half a dozen open civil rights investigations into the university, the school will pay $200 million in settlements to the federal government over three years. Columbia has also agreed to pay $21 million to settle additional investigations involving the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“I recognize these are substantial settlements,” the university’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a statement Wednesday. “As acting president, together with our Board of Trustees, we had to look at all the facts. We have seen not only $400 million in federal grants frozen, but also the majority of our $1.3 billion a year in federal funding placed on hold. The prospect of that continuing indefinitely, along with the potential loss of top scientists, would jeopardize our status as a world-leading research institution.”
The Trump administration’s antisemitism task force pulled $400 million in federal funding in March following the New York university’s failure to condemn or punish harassment experienced by Jewish students. The university has not admitted to wrongdoing and denies the government’s conclusion that it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, according to the press release.
“We are not, however, denying the very serious and painful challenges our institution has faced with antisemitism,” Shipman said. “For these reasons, we took several important corrective steps in March, many of which are in this agreement, including a new provision for a liaison to the Jewish Community, situated in University Life.”
Under the agreement, the school retains control over its academic and operational decisions but agrees to follow existing laws banning the consideration of race in admissions. The additional measures announced previously and aimed at ridding the institution of antisemitism include adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism into the work of a recently established office at Columbia that deals with discrimination complaints, appointing Title VI and Title VII coordinators to respond to allegations on campus, and requiring additional training on antisemitism for students, faculty, and staff.
The university reiterated its commitment to zero tolerance for discrimination on the basis of Jewish or Israeli identity in a statement last week.
“I would also add that making these announcements in no way suggests we are finished with the work,” Shipman said at the time. “In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that antisemitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding, will take time. It will likely require more reform. But I’m hopeful that in doing this work, as we consider and even debate it, we will start to promote healing and to chart our path forward.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Wednesday that the administration’s deal with Columbia University is a seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitism.
“For decades, the American public has watched in horror as our elite campuses have been overrun by anti-Western teachings and a leftist groupthink that restricts speech and debate to push a one-sided view of our nation and the world,” McMahon said. “These dangerous trends fueled the outbreak of violent antisemitism that paralyzed campuses after the October 7th massacre and was previously unthinkable in the United States of America.”
Columbia’s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to regain the confidence of the American people, McMahon said.