Money talks, and Columbia University finally admitted that on Wednesday, after a stunning settlement with the Trump administration was announced.
As Redstate reported, the Ivy League school has been a hotbed of pro-Hamas activity, including antisemitic harassment and violence. In the Spring of 2024, just as the presidential campaign was ramping up, terror supporters took over Hamilton Hall, barricading themselves inside and claiming to have liberated it. For months on end, radicals waving "Palestinian" flags occupied the main grounds, refusing to let Jews pass.
All the while, Columbia administrators sought appeasement instead of order. It took Mayor Eric Adams giving the NYPD the green light to finally clear Hamilton Hall, but because of New York's far-left prosecutors, few people were punished. It was during this time that Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian national whom the Trump administration is currently trying to deport for his pro-terrorism ties, became a known figure.
While Joe Biden took no action, and if anything helped egg on the antisemtic, pro-terror chaos, the next president had other ideas, with the Trump White House immediately starting an investigation. Before long, the consequences arrived in the form of stripping hundreds of millions of dollars in future grant money from Columbia.
SEE: Consequences Arrive for Columbia University, Faculty Revolt Amid Impending Layoffs
Things snowballed from there, with Education Secretary Minda McMahon announcing in early June that the school had violated Title IV protections by refusing to rein in the pro-Hamas crowd. At first, Columbia remained defiant, but it looks like they did the math and figured it was time to bend the knee.
Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220 million to the federal government to restore federal research money that was canceled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus, the university announced Wednesday.
Under the agreement, the Ivy League school will pay a $200 million settlement over three years, the university said. It will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” acting University President Claire Shipman said.
The Trump administration pulled the funding, because of what it described as the university’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.
The $221 million fine will be paid out over the next three years. In exchange, Columbia will have its federal grants restored. Further, and perhaps most importantly, the school has agreed to completely overhaul its disciplinary system. That should hopefully lead to actual consequences for future pro-terror lunatics who decide to occupy public areas and propagate antisemitic attacks. If it doesn't, then the Trump administration can simply pull the grants again.
In other words, Columbia has every incentive to follow through here, and the fact that they even made this deal shows they want this issue to go away.
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