Latest news with #federalFunding
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
What's in the $200m deal Trump has struck with Columbia University?
New York City-based Columbia University has agreed to pay $221m to settle claims by US President Donald Trump's administration that it failed to curb anti-Semitism on campus, in exchange for the reinstatement of billions of dollars in federal funding. The deal, agreed on Wednesday, comes after sweeping university campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza during the spring and summer of 2024 and this year were criticised as veering into anti-Semitism. In February, the government cut $400m in federal research funding for Columbia in a bid to force its administrators to respond to alleged harassment of Jewish students and faculty. The unprecedented agreement marks a victory in Trump's efforts to exert greater control over higher education, including campus activism, and could offer a framework for future deals with other universities. What's in the deal Trump has struck with Columbia? Columbia has agreed to pay $200m to the government over three years, as well as making a separate $21m payment to settle claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In exchange, the 'vast majority' of the frozen $400m in federal funding will be reinstated, the university said. Columbia will also regain access to billions of dollars' worth of current and future grants under the deal. Columbia is required, within 30 days, to appoint an administrator who will report to the university president and will be responsible for overseeing the deal's compliance. This includes verifying that the institution ends programmes that promote 'unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas [and] diversity targets'. Additionally, Columbia must review its Middle East curriculum to make sure it is 'comprehensive and balanced' and appoint new faculty staff to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Columbia said the agreement establishes Bart Schwartz, of the compliance firm Guidepost Solutions, as an independent monitor who will report to the government on its progress every six months. The university will be expected to compile a report for the monitor to ensure its programmes 'do not promote unlawful DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] goals'. Why have they come to this agreement? Columbia said the agreement formalises already-announced reforms to address harassment of Jewish students and staff, including the hiring of additional public safety personnel, changes to disciplinary processes, and efforts to foster 'an inclusive and respectful learning environment'. The dispute between Columbia and the Trump administration began after Jewish students and faculty complained of harassment on campus by pro-Palestine demonstrators, while pro-Palestinian advocates accused critics of often wrongly conflating opposition to Israel with the hatred of Jews. Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, said the agreement marked 'an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty'. 'The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track. Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest,' she added. Trump hailed the settlement as 'historic' in a post on his Truth Social platform. '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. How have students and activists reacted? Student activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) slammed the settlement as 'a bribe'. 'Imagine selling your students out just so you can pay Trump $221 million dollars and keep funding genocide,' the group wrote on X. It added that Columbia's disciplinary action against students, including suspensions and expulsions, this week was a punishment that 'hugely' exceeded the precedent for non-Palestine-related demonstrations. Non-governmental organisation Palestine Legal accused Columbia of 'weaponising claims of antisemitism to punish those calling for freedom for Palestinians'. 'It is clear that Columbia's desire to create a community 'where all feel welcome' doesn't extend to students who call for an end to Israel's genocide,' the group posted on X. Hasan Piker, a left-wing activist, political commentator and a critic of Trump, said the US president was 'underwater on everything and Columbia is still caving to Trump on everything', adding 'it seems like some of these institutions were looking for the pretext to go right'. What steps has Columbia already taken to pacify the Trump administration? In March, Columbia agreed to a list of demands laid down by Trump in return for negotiations to reinstate its $400m federal funding, which he had revoked a month before, citing 'a failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment'. Among other concessions, the university agreed to ban face mask coverings during protests, as well as to install 36 campus police officers with special powers to arrest students. Earlier this month, Columbia adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which has been criticised for what some say is conflating criticism of the state of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism. Critics have warned that the definition could be used to stifle dissent and curb academic freedom. In a letter sent to the United Nations in 2023, 60 human and civil rights organisations said the definition should not be used. 'The IHRA definition has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus chill and sometimes suppress, non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism, including in the US and Europe,' they wrote. On Tuesday, Columbia also announced it would suspend, expel or revoke degrees for nearly 80 students who participated in a Butler Library demonstration on its campus on May 7, 2025 and a 'Revolt for Rafah' encampment on May 31, 2024 during the university's annual alumni weekend. During protests, students demanded that the university's $14.8bn endowment stop investing in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel. Protest organiser and former student Mahmoud Khalil, 29, was the first person to be detained during the Trump administration's push to deport pro-Palestinian activists who are not US citizens. The school also said it would no longer engage with pro-Palestinian group CUAD. Which other universities has Trump set his sights on, and why? The Trump administration is focusing attention on 10 universities that it deems noteworthy in its campaign to root out anti-Semitism. These are Columbia; George Washington University; Harvard; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California. Columbia University was the first college to see its funding slashed, but several Ivy League schools have been subjected to or threatened with funding cuts since Trump took office in January 2024. More than $2bn in total was frozen for Cornell, Northwestern, Brown and Princeton universities. In April, the administration also threatened to freeze $510m in grants to Brown University over alleged violations 'relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination'. Harvard University was the first – and has so far been the only – major higher education institution to defy Trump's demands and fight back in federal court. This week, it argued in federal court that the Trump administration had illegally cut $2.6bn in funding in what were politically motivated attempts to reshape the institution. Are deals with other universities expected as well? Some universities are also believed to be in talks with the Trump administration, so more deals could be forthcoming. In particular, US news outlets have reported that officials from the Trump administration and Harvard are continuing negotiations, despite the court case brought by Harvard. In June, Trump posted on social media that 'if a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be 'mindbogglingly' HISTORIC, and very good for our Country'.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbia University to pay $200 mn in clash with Trump
Columbia University said Wednesday it will pay $200 million to the US government after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding over what he said was its unwillingness to protect Jewish students. In a sweeping deal that will restore the prestigious New York institution's federal monies, Columbia has pledged to obey rules that bar it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring, among other concessions. "Columbia University has reached an agreement with the United States government to resolve multiple federal agency investigations into alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws," a statement said, adding that the $200 million would be paid over three years. The university will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it said. "Under today's 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," the statement said. The promise of the federal funding spigot reopening offers relief for the university, which was under growing financial pressure, despite a comfortable endowment and a reputation it can bank on. The agreement also represents a victory for Trump, who has repeatedly claimed elite universities brainwash students against his nationalist ideas with left-wing bias. The centuries-old Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is also in a fight with the administration over Trump's threats to rip away federal funding, and Wednesday's carefully worded agreement -- in which Columbia admitted no wrongdoing -- could offer a framework for future deals. "This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty," Columbia's acting president Claire Shipman said. "The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track. "Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest." - Disciplinary actions - Under the settlement, Columbia will maintain a security force to prevent demonstrations in academic spaces, such as those that rocked the campus last year when pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with law enforcement and occupied university buildings. The school also agreed to "promptly provide" federal authorities with any requested information on "disciplinary actions involving student visa-holders resulting in expulsions or suspensions, and arrest records that Columbia is aware of for criminal activity, including trespass or other violation of law." Columbia found itself at the center of a firestorm last year over claims of anti-Semitism triggered by campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. Some Jewish students claimed they were intimidated and that authorities did not act to protect them. The school announced a wave of various student punishments on Tuesday, including expulsions and degree revocations, against nearly 80 students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement that has called on the university to divest from Israel. "Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community," Columbia said in a statement about student protests on its campus. "Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences." While the university appears to be acquiescing to the Trump administration's demands to quash student protest, one of the most prominent leaders of the US pro-Palestinian campus protests is still raising his voice. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate active in campus demonstrations, has sued the Trump administration for $20 million over his arrest and detention by immigration agents. Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States who is married to a US citizen, missed the birth of his son while being held in a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana. He called the lawsuit a "first step towards accountability." hg/sla/jgc
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Administration Illegally Withheld Head Start Funds, Watchdog Finds
The Trump administration illegally withheld funding from a roughly $12 billion federal child care program known as Head Start, according to congressional investigators, who said that President Trump and his top aides had wrongly interrupted the flow of money enacted by Congress. The disruption appeared to be resolved by June, according to the Government Accountability Office, a legislative oversight agency. But its conclusions, published Wednesday, still referenced reports showing that the government's actions may have caused immense financial hardship to some child-care services, which struggled to receive federal aid for about three months. It was the third time this year that the congressional watchdog faulted the administration for defying Congress and trying to reconfigure the nation's budget unilaterally. And the findings underscored the stakes of a simmering battle between Capitol Hill and the White House over the power of the purse. The Head Start program funds child care and other services for families in poverty, serving roughly 800,000 children up to age 5, according to recent federal estimates. Even though the safety-net initiative has long enjoyed bipartisan support, Mr. Trump considered proposing its full elimination as part of his fiscal blueprint for 2026, calling its curriculum 'radical.' The president ultimately backed off the idea once he issued his full budget this spring. But some Head Start centers still began to report significant difficulties in getting federal funds that Congress had already approved. Democrats soon alleged that the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, had stopped providing grants on a timely basis. By April, party lawmakers had determined that the program had supplied about $1 billion less than it had compared with the same time a year earlier. Facing significant disruptions, local Head Start associations joined parents and other groups in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in April. The groups charged that the funding delays were 'unlawful acts in service of an unlawful goal' to undermine Head Start 'in blatant contravention of congressional directives.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Harvard seeks billions in funding restored at a pivotal hearing in its standoff with Trump
BOSTON: Harvard University appeared in federal court Monday in a pivotal case in its battle with the Trump administration, as the storied institution argued the government illegally cut $2.6 billion in federal funding. President Donald Trump's administration has battered the nation's oldest and wealthiest university with sanctions for months as it presses a series of demands on the Ivy League school, which it decries as a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. Harvard has resisted, and the lawsuit over the cuts to its research grants represents the primary challenge to the administration in a standoff that is being widely watched across higher education and beyond. A lawyer for Harvard, Steven Lehotsky, said at Monday's hearing the case is about the government trying to control the 'inner workings' of Harvard. The funding cuts, if not reversed, could lead to the loss of research, damaged careers and the closing of labs, he said. 'It's not about Harvard's conduct,' he said. 'It's about the government's conduct toward Harvard.' The case is before US District Judge Allison Burroughs, who is presiding over lawsuits brought by Harvard against the administration's efforts to keep it from hosting international students. In that case, she temporarily blocked the administration's efforts. At Monday's hearing, Harvard asked her to reverse a series of funding freezes. Such a ruling, if it stands, would revive Harvard's sprawling scientific and medical research operation and hundreds of projects that lost federal money. A lawyer for the government, Michael Velchik, said the Trump administration has authority to cancel the grants after concluding the funding did not align with its priorities, namely Trump's executive order combating antisemitism. He argued Harvard allowed antisemitism to flourish at the university following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel, including protesters camped out on campus chanting antisemitic slogans as well attacks on Jewish students. 'Harvard claims the government is anti-Harvard. I reject that,' said Velchik, a Harvard alumnus. 'The government is pro-Jewish students at Harvard. The government is pro-Jewish faculty at Harvard.' Judge questions basis for government's findings on antisemitism Burroughs pushed back, questioning how the government could make 'ad-hoc' decisions to cancel grants and do so without offering evidence that any of the research is antisemitic. At one point, she called the government's assertions 'mind-boggling.' She also argued the government had provided 'no documentation, no procedure' to 'suss out' whether Harvard administrators 'have taken enough steps or haven't' to combat antisemitism. 'The consequences of that in terms of constitutional law are staggering,' she said. 'I don't think you can justify a contract action based on impermissible suppression of speech. Where do I have that wrong.' Velchik said the case comes down to the government's choosing how best to spend billions of dollars in research funding. Harvard's lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands from a federal antisemitism task force in April. A second lawsuit over the cuts filed by the American Association of University Professors and its Harvard faculty chapter has been consolidated with the university's. The task force's demands included sweeping changes related to campus protests, academics and admissions. For example, Harvard was told to audit the viewpoints of students and faculty and admit more students or hire new professors if the campus was found to lack diverse points of view. Harvard President Alan Garber says the university has made changes to combat antisemitism but said no government 'should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.' Monday's hearing ended without Burroughs issuing a ruling from the bench. A ruling is expected later in writing. Harvard faculty, alumni rally against cuts Several dozen alumni from Harvard joined students and faculty to decry the effort to cut the federal funds, holding up signs reading 'Hands Off Harvard,' 'Strong USA Needs Strong Harvard' and 'Our Liberty Is Not For Sale.' Anurima Bhargava, who wrote the amicus brief on behalf of more than 12,000 fellow Harvard alumni in the case, said the graduates spoke up because 'they understand what is at stake here and what the end goal of the government is, to take away our ability to pursue the mission, the freedom and the values that have been the cornerstone of higher education.' Three Harvard researchers who lost their federal funding spoke about disruptions to the long-term impact of funding on cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other health conditions. They said the cuts could force researchers to go overseas to work. 'Unfortunately, the termination of this research work would mean the end of this progress and the implications are serious for the well-being of Americans and our children into the future,' said Walter Willett, a Harvard professor of epidemiology and nutrition who lost grants that funded long-term studies of men's and women's health. 'This is just one example of the arbitrary and capricious weaponization of taxpayer money that is undermining the health of Americans,' he said. Trump's pressure campa ign involves a series of sanctions The same day Harvard rejected the government's demands, Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, and weeks later the administration began canceling contracts with Harvard. As Harvard fought the funding freeze in court, individual agencies began sending letters announcing the frozen research grants were being terminated. They cited a clause that allows grants to be scrapped if they no longer align with government policies. Harvard, which has the nation's largest endowment at $53 billion, has moved to self-fund some of its research, but warned it can't absorb the full cost of the federal cuts. In court filings, the school said the government 'fails to explain how the termination of funding for research to treat cancer, support veterans, and improve national security addresses antisemitism.' The Trump administration denies the cuts were made in retaliation and argues the government has wide discretion to cancel contracts for policy reasons. The research funding is only one front in Harvard's fight with the government. The Trump administration also has sought to prevent the school from hosting foreign students, and Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status. Finally, last month, the Trump administration formally issued a finding that the school tolerated antisemitism — a step that eventually could jeopardize all of Harvard's federal funding, including federal student loans or grants. The penalty is typically referred to as a 'death sentence.' After Monday's hearing, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to attack Burroughs, calling her a 'TOTAL DISASTER.' Burroughs was appointed by former President Barack Obama. 'Harvard has $52 Billion Dollars sitting in the Bank, and yet they are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America,' he wrote. 'Much of this money comes from the USA., all to the detriment of other Schools, Colleges, and Institutions, and we are not going to allow this unfair situation to happen any longer.'
CBS News
7 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Healey calls on Trump administration to restore funding for major Mass Pike construction project
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is calling on President Donald Trump's administration to restore more than $300 million in federal funding that has been pulled for a major Mass Pike construction project in Boston. The "Big Beautiful Bill" signed into law on July 4 eliminated the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program that set aside $335 million for the I-90 overhaul in Allston. Healey said Friday that MassDOT has confirmed that the state will only keep $8 million from the grant. "Massachusetts won this funding to support our communities and our economy - and the Trump Administration needs to restore it," the governor said in a statement. "Why would any President of the United States oppose a project that will improve transportation for residents and visitors alike, create thousands of construction jobs, support local businesses and create space for new housing?" The $2 billion project would lower the aging elevated portion of the highway near Boston University to ground level, and straighten out the curve. Plans also call for new housing, park space along the Charles River and a new Commuter Rail station. The state is now undertaking a "strategic review" of the project to figure out a way forward, but Healey said her administration is still committed to getting it done. Other funding sources for the project include $500 million in bonds, $500 million from the millionaire's tax, $200 million from toll revenue, $100 million from the city of Boston and $90 million from Harvard University. "The people of Massachusetts deserve better from their federal government," Healey said. "However, we have known that this day was likely to come, as wrong-headed and frustrating as the decision is."
