Columbia University will implement a laundry list of policy changes to appease the Trump administration’s concerns over rampant antisemitism at the school and to work to restore $400 million in federal funding.
Among the changes, the Ivy League institution has agreed to prohibit masks that conceal identities during campus protests, hired 36 special police officers who can arrest students, bar students from protesting inside buildings, and strengthen its disciplinary procedures, Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong announced Friday.
A four-page memo outlining the changes also stated the university will create a provost position to review and maintain oversight on its Middle East studies programs. Also on tap is an expansion of “intellectual diversity among faculty.”
“[T]he University will appoint new faculty members with joint positions in both the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and the departments of Economics, Political Science, and School for International and Public Affairs,” the memo stated.
Columbia will also commit “to greater institutional neutrality” as part of the changes. And it will review its admissions practices as “we have identified a recent downturn in both Jewish and African American enrollment, and we will closely examine those issues.”
The move comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s decision to revoke $400 million in federal grants and contracts due to the school’s “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
It is unknown at this time if the Trump administration will accept the changes as sufficient enough to reinstate the funding.
Armstrong, in her memo, stated: “We have worked hard to address the legitimate concerns raised both from within and without our Columbia community, including by our regulators, with respect to the discrimination, harassment and antisemitic acts our Jewish community has faced in the wake of October 7, 2023.”
Some free speech and academic freedom advocates are saying Columbia caved and this sets a bad precedent.
“The concession marks a big win for the Trump administration in its war with elite universities and shows the federal government’s strategy of taking away funds could be effective in securing changes,” The Hill reported.
Columbia has been a hotbed of antisemitism and controversy, most notably when pro-Palestinian students seized a campus building last spring. During the April incident, Columbia locked down its campus to everyone but essential personnel after anti-Israel student protesters smashed windows and barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall.
A few custodians were detained in the melee and had to fight their way out, and some students reported being assaulted. The building was also vandalized and thrashed. The situation was resolved after police in riot gear were called in.
Columbia ended up canceling its 2024 commencement after more than 200 anti-Israel protesters were arrested on campus over a tent encampment that refused to disband. The students involved were finally disciplined earlier this month.
MORE: Columbia janitors had to fight to get out when pro-Palestinians took over building
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Columbia University in New York City / Shutterstock
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