‘they Need To See The Institutions Experiencing Pain’

The Trump administration’s massive claw back of Columbia University’s federal funding and the arrest of a green-card-holding campus protest leader has created one basic question across academia: Who’s next?

Republican lawmakers have been needling college leaders about their response to pro-Palestinian encampments since Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel. And while they pushed some school presidents into resigning last year, their political momentum fizzled when campuses thinned out over the summer and protesters recalibrated after the election.

President Donald Trump has changed everything in the span of seven weeks.

Some schools have already started rescinding admissions offers amid Trump’s hold on research money and purge of diversity programs. But in the days since his Friday blitz against Columbia, Harvard University instituted a hiring freeze and Johns Hopkins University plans to cut 2,000 jobs — reactions that have stunned faculty across the country and angered anti-war activists.

In what Trump officials say is an effort to crack down on antisemitism, the Education Department this week launched similar investigations into 60 additional schools, a move that could spark a new round of tensions on campuses.

Trump’s unprecedented decision to yank $400 million from Columbia and detain protest leader Mahmoud Khalil has fundamentally changed universities’ outlook and livelihoods. The president’s moves show how financially and politically exposed many of the nation’s most sought-after schools are — raising questions about their dependence on Washington, the next generation of scientists and the fundamentals of free speech and discrimination.

“I don't think they will be appeased by any changes in policy or pledges to do better,” said Ted Mitchell, the former president of Occidental College who now leads the American Council on Education, said of the Trump administration. “I think that in some way, shape or form, they need to see the institutions experiencing pain and for there to be some blood on the floor.”

Even when politicians and conservative activists poke fun at the liberal bent on college campuses, scores of scientists and other academics testify on Capitol Hill, get appointed to federal commissions, advise government officials and receive bipartisan praise for their expertise on key issues. Many universities are also economic engines for their towns and cities.

But Mitchell, whose group is the nation’s largest organization representing universities, said his members don’t know what their next move should be. He pointed to the fact that the administration pulled funds from Columbia roughly four days after announcing it was reviewing the school’s federal grants and contracts. Late Thursday, the Trump administration laid out a list of significant conditions Columbia would have to meet if it wanted its grant money back, including a new system of disciplining students and “comprehensive” changes to its admissions system.

“The federal government’s actions last Friday relate directly to Columbia’s failure to protect Jewish students’ civil rights, an obligation they undertook when agreeing to receive federal funding,” Education Department spokesperson Julie Hartman said in a statement. “Doing business with the federal government is a privilege, not a right. If educational entities want federal financial assistance, they must scrupulously adhere to all federal antidiscrimination law.”

The Trump administration’s task force on combating antisemitism is conducting site visits to 10 schools under investigation for incidents since Hamas' October 2023 attack.

Columbia is facing a loss of up to $5 billion in federal grants and contracts. Roughly $250 million of the federal dollars Columbia lost came from the National Institutes of Health, a major funder across higher education that sent more than $300 million apiece in fiscal 2024 to most of the schools getting Trump’s early attention.

"All these universities are on notice," Leo Terrell, who heads the administration's task force from the Justice Department, told Fox News after the Columbia announcement.

“These blue cities that are allowing this to happen, where are the hate crime charges? Where are the charges against these individuals?” he said. “This is not free speech and I can assure these cities, if you don't do your job, the U.S. Attorneys’ Office, the Department of Justice, will file charges against these individuals who are committing crimes against Jewish Americans."

Protesting has a long cultural legacy in Berkeley, California, and its Democratic mayor, Adena Ishii, is largely unsettled by the potential chilling effect posed by threats of deportation, arrests and funding cuts.

“We don't tolerate hate crimes here in our city,” she said in an interview. “There's a difference though in protesting, especially when we're calling out our own government for things that we disagree that they do. I am really concerned about how a statement like that could impact our free speech here — Berkeley is the home of free speech.”

The federal task force on Thursday notified the mayors of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston that it wants to meet with them soon to discuss their cities’ responses to incidents of antisemitism at schools and on college campuses.

“Too many elected officials chose not to stand up to a rising tide of antisemitism in our cities and campuses following the horrific events of October 7, 2023,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Actions have consequences — inaction does, too.”

In addition to Columbia and University of California, Berkeley, the Trump administration’s task force on combating antisemitism is slated to visit: George Washington University, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Northwestern University, UCLA, the University of Southern California and the University of Minnesota. Some institutions have said the task force hasn’t yet scheduled meetings with them.

Each of the universities being probed — with the exception of GWU and USC — negotiated or struck deals with anti-war and pro-Palestinian protesters.

Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ agreed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Harvard agreed to a discussion with students about its endowment. And the University of Minnesota said at the time it would not pursue disciplinary action against students or employees for their encampment protest.

Those student negotiators could now also be at risk of being arrested or expelled after Trump and Terrell promised to take action against protesters.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Khalil, the Columbia protest organizer arrested by immigration agents last weekend and is being detained at a facility in Louisiana, would remain in custody as his case continues. Khalil and seven other students sued Columbia and the House Committee on Education and Workforce on Thursday to stop the school from sharing disciplinary records.

But professors fear the fact that Khalil could face deportation despite holding a valid green card also exposes the foreign-born faculty who may have voiced support for the Palestinian cause or the protesters in general.

“Many of them — scientists, historians, cultural critics — have said things in the course of their scholarly careers that are noxious to the present administration,” Michael Thaddeus, a Columbia math professor and vice president of Columbia’s AAUP chapter, said of the faculty at a press conference this week. “The attack on Mahmoud Khalil is intended to make them quake in their boots.”

Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, said hundreds of members of his faculty union last spring made a ring around their student protesters at Rutgers University to prevent them from being arrested. The tactic gave students more time to reach a settlement with the school, which is now being investigated by the Education Department.

“This cruel administration is trying to attack higher education and create fear so that they can lord that fear over the rest of us,” said Wolfson, a journalism professor at the school.

But some protest organizers believe the colleges reacting to Trump with hiring freezes and other drastic measures — especially the wealthier ones — are caving to him.

“If they wanted to, they could use their cash reserves, their giant endowment and so forth to keep funding research and keep funding students,” Caitlin Liss, a spokesperson for Student Workers of Columbia, said of the school in an interview. “They do not have to give in to Trump and they're giving in to Trump anyway and I think that that sends a really dangerous message for universities around the country."

Some of the union’s demands include reestablishing the university as a sanctuary campus and the university committing to not providing information to immigration officials who are investigating Columbia affiliates.

In a message to the Columbia community last week, interim President Katrina Armstrong said that the university is “taking the government’s action very seriously.”

“I want to assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns,” Armstrong wrote.

Samantha Slater, a Columbia spokesperson, referenced Armstrong’s recent message when reached for comment, and told POLITICO the university is reviewing the Trump administration’s decision. She also referred to previous statements the university made reiterating that the university “has and will continue to follow the law” and that law enforcement must have a judicial warrant “to enter non-public University areas.”

Slater added: “We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff.”

Cornell University, another institution under scrutiny, told POLITICO it would work with the Trump administration to resolve the issues.

The State University of New York as well as Rockland Community College, one of the SUNY institutions that received a letter from the administration, pointed to efforts they’ve undertaken to support Jewish students and said they would continue to take steps to protect them.