Columbia Agrees To Trump Demands After Administration Pulled $400 Million In Federal Funding

Topline

Columbia University agreed Friday to demands by the Trump administration—including restrictions on masks, new campus police officers and more oversight for some departments—after losing $400 million in federal funding over allegations of antisemitism at pro-Palestinian protests, part of a contentious back-and-forth between President Donald Trump and U.S. universities.

Key Facts

Katrina Armstrong, Columbia’s interim president, said Friday the university had informed the federal government about changes to its protest and security policies—several of which lined up with demands by the Department of Education and other agencies, which cancelled $400 million worth of contracts and grants to Columbia earlier this month.

In a document, the university said all people who engage in protests on campus, including those wearing masks or face coverings, will be required to show their university identification to school authorities when asked, after the Trump administration pushed Columbia to ban masks.

Columbia noted face masks and coverings will continue to be allowed for religious or medical reasons, though they cannot be explicitly used to conceal one’s identity.

The university has also hired 36 “special officers” who can remove people from campus and/or make arrests, adding the individuals are nearly done with their training and credentialing under New York law.

A new senior provost will also be appointed soon to conduct reviews of programs focused on the Middle East including the Center for Palestine Studies, the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, the School of International and Public Affairs’ Middle East Policy major and more—after the administration demanded “receivership” of some departments.

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What Changes Did The Trump Administration Demand From Columbia?

Columbia largely fell in line with demands from the Trump administration. In a letter to the university, the Trump administration asked Columbia to finish disciplinary proceedings for students who occupied a building during last year’s protest. That same day, Columbia announced suspensions, expulsions and temporary degree revocations of some of the students involved in the occupation. The administration also asked Columbia to abolish its judicial board in charge of dishing out disciplinary measures and to put all disciplinary processes under the office of the president. Columbia did not abolish the judicial board, instead situating it under the office of the provost, who reports to the university’s president. Columbia agreed to demands asking it to ban mask usage for identity concealment, as well as demands asking it to empower law enforcement on campus with the ability to arrest and remove people in violation of university rules. Columbia did not explicitly place its Middle East, South Asian and African Studies Department under “academic receivership,” as demanded by the government, though the appointment of a provost to review department programs is similar to a receivership. According to the Education Department, an academic receivership happens when an academic department’s control is moved from faculty to an outside chair.

Chief Critic

“Columbia faculty are utterly shocked and profoundly disappointed by the trustees’ capitulation to the extortionate behavior of the federal government,” Sheldon Pollock, a retired former chair of Columbia’s Middle Eastern studies department, told The New York Times, saying the changes would “endanger academic freedom, faculty governance and the excellence of the American university system.”

What To Watch For

If other universities find themselves in a similar situation to Columbia’s, as the Trump administration is in the process of investigating 60 colleges and universities where pro-Palestinian protests were held last year. The schools are being probed over allegations of “antisemitic discrimination and harassment” and could face “potential enforcement actions” impacting their federal funding.

Key Background

Columbia has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s condemnation of pro-Palestinian protests held across several universities last year. Some politicians and alumni have criticized how universities like Columbia handled the demonstrations, including their response to allegations of antisemitic rhetoric. Outside of freezing $400 million in funding for the university, the Trump administration has also arrested two Columbia students over allegations they supported Hamas, the militant group battling Israel in a bloody conflict that has killed about 1,200 Israelis and over 45,000 Palestinians since 2023 according to Israeli and Palestinian officials respectively. One of the students, Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident born in Syria, was arrested this month and told he was being detained because his student visa had been revoked. Khalil is still detained as of Friday as his lawyers continue pushing for his release after saying in a filing the agents who arrested Khalil did not provide a reason for why his visa was revoked.

Further Reading

Second Palestinian Columbia Student Arrested: DHS Says Protester Overstayed Her Visa (Forbes)

Columbia Expels And Pulls Degrees For Some Students Who Occupied Building During Pro-Palestinian Protests (Forbes)

Mahmoud Khalil Still Detained In Louisiana—At Least For Now—Following Court Hearing: What We Know (Forbes)