A $400m Punishment For Columbia University From The Trump Administration

Columbia University faces the immediate loss of grants and contracts totaling about $400 million for failing to address antisemitism, a Trump administration task force said Friday.

The Justice Department task force to combat antisemitism, led by Leo Terrell, has been probing 10 institutions because of their responses to antisemitic incidents on campuses since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. But Columbia, which faced intense scrutiny for its students’ high-profile antiwar encampment and building occupations last spring, is the first institution to have its grants and contracts frozen.

“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in antisemitism. This is only the beginning,” said Terrell, who also serves as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights. “Canceling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the Federal Government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff.”

The affected contracts come from the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education, as well as the General Services Administration. The administration said Columbia’s grants were scrutinized because of the “school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”

The task force said to expect more cancellations as it continues to seek more areas to cut contracts or grants to the institution from other agencies. Columbia University holds more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments. GSA will assist HHS and ED in issuing stop-work orders on grants and contracts to immediately freeze access to those funds.

“We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding,” a University spokesperson said in a statement. “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 well-being of our students, faculty, and staff.”

Terrell, in an interview with Fox News on Friday, appeared critical of Columbia's response.

"The only reason why they want to come to the table [is] because President Trump and Pam Bondi are being very, very forceful," he said, adding that other universities should be on notice.

"I am going to visit 13 schools with an army of lawyers, army of FBI agents, army of individuals from HHS, Education Department, with Linda McMahon and the Department of Justice telling these universities, clean up your act now, immediately," he said. "And if we have to get injunctive relief, court orders, we're going to do it."

Other institutions already being investigated by the task force include: George Washington University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California. Only 10 schools have been announced so far.

The task force notified Columbia on March 3 that it would conduct a comprehensive review of the university’s federal contracts and grants because of the investigation into whether it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

All schools that receive federal funds must comply with Title VI, a federal law that bars discrimination based on shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics or national origin. Schools who violate the law could be at risk of losing funding.

“Universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”