Columbia agrees to pay $200 million to restore funding cut by Trump administration

Yahoo

24-07-2025

Columbia University will pay $200 million to the federal government to restore the majority of funding that was cut by the Trump administration over allegations it violated anti-discrimination laws.
"This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty," acting university President Claire Shipman said in a statement.
The Trump administration in March said it was canceling $400 million in grants to the school, accusing it of 'inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.'
Columbia then agreed to a list of demands by the Trump administration, which some critics saw as a capitulation by the private university.
President Donald Trump celebrated the agreement on Truth Social on Wednesday night and showed no signs that administration's pressure campaign on universities was over.
"Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming," he wrote.
Columbia said in the Wednesday statement that under the agreement 'a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025 — will be reinstated and Columbia's access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored.'
'This includes the reinstatement of the majority of grants previously terminated by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services, renewal of non-competitive grants, the release of overdue payments on active, non-terminated grants, and Columbia's restored eligibility to apply for new federal research funding in the ordinary course,' the university said.
Columbia and other universities have been targeted by the Trump administration over student protests over the war in Gaza, which some Republican lawmakers have said were antisemitic.
Another major Ivy League college, Harvard University, refused Trump's demands and has sued the Trump administration over threats to cut funding. That case is pending.
"While Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement, the institution's leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed," the university said in Wednesday's statement.
Columbia said the agreement will establish a 'a jointly selected independent monitor" — and that it will provide regular reports about its "continued compliance with applicable federal laws and regulations pertaining to admissions, hiring, and international students."
It said the agreement also codifies changes it previously announced on campus safety, discipline and inclusion.
The $200 million, termed a settlement by the university, will be paid to the government over three years.
It will also pay $21 million to settle investigations by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the university said.
Columbia Board of Trustees co-chairs David Greenwald and Jeh Johnson said in Wednesday's statement that the agreement 'confirms the changes already underway at Columbia to meaningfully address antisemitism on our campus and allows the University to continue to undertake its transformative research and scholarship.'
Student protests over the war in Gaza, which Israel launched after the surprise terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, took place on college campuses across the U.S., including at Columbia.
Trump campaigned on attacking those protests, and since taking office his administration has sought to deport some students who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations by accusing them of sympathizing with Hamas.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called the Columbia settlement 'a seismic shift in our nation's fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.'
Brian Cohen, executive director of the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life with Columbia/Barnard Hillel, hailed the agreement.
'This announcement is an important recognition of what Jewish students and their families have expressed with increasing urgency: antisemitism at Columbia is real, and it has had a tangible impact on Jewish students' sense of safety and belonging and, in turn, their civil rights,' he said.
Shipman, the Columbia president, said in a letter to the university community that Columbia remains independent.
"No provision of this agreement, individually or taken together, shall be construed as giving the United States authority to dictate faculty hiring, university hiring, admissions decisions, or the content of academic speech," she wrote in the letter, quoting the agreement.
"This was our north star, and we did not waver from it," Shipman wrote. "Columbia's governance remains in our control. The federal government will not dictate what we teach, who teaches, or which students we admit."
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com