Columbia University agreed on Friday To revise protest policies, security practices and the Middle Eastern Department of Studies in a remarkable concession to Trump administration, which refused to consider recovery of $ 400 million in federal funds without significant changes.
The agreement, which was surprised and frustrated by many members of the school, could signal a new stage in escalating elite colleges and universities. Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and dozens of other schools are facing federal research and are afraid of similar sanctions and college managers said Columbia’s response to White House requirements can put a dangerous precedent.
This week, the University of Pennsylvania is also explicitly targeted by Trump’s administration, which said it would cancel $ 175 million in federal funding, at least in part because the university had left a transsexual woman to participate in a swimming group.
Columbia, facing the loss of government grants and contracts about what the administration said was a systematic failure to protect students and members of the teachers “by anti -Semitic violence and harassment”, has chosen to attribute many of the most important requirements.
The university said it had agreed to hire a new 36 “special officers” internal security force who would be authorized to remove people from the campus or arrest them. The deterioration of face masks on campus will also be banned to hide identity during disorders, with exceptions for religious and healthy reasons.
Columbia will also adopt an official definition of anti -Semitism, something that many universities have been removed, even when, like Columbia, have encountered the pressure to do so in the midst of protests in their campuses over the Gaza war. According to the definition of work, anti -Semitism could include “targeting Jews or Israelis for violence or celebrating violence against them” or “some double standards applied to Israel”, including issues.
Overall, the administration’s plan-issued in a non-signed four-page letter-reproduced an amazing level of appreciation to Trump administration by a leading private research university.
Columbia’s intermediary president, Katrina A. Armstrong, said in a separate letter that the actions of the university were part of her attempt to “make every student, professor and member of the safe and welcome staff in our campus”.
“The way Columbia and Colombians were depicted is difficult to take into account,” said Dr. Armstrong. “We have challenges. Yes. But they don’t determine us.”
He added: “At all times, we are guided by our values, setting academic freedom, free expression, open research and respect for everyone in the foreground of every decision we make.”
Trump’s administration demanded each of the changes in a letter to Columbia officials on March 13. It was not immediately clear whether the actions of the University would be sufficient to recover $ 400 million in federal money. A representative of the Department of Education, one of the three federal organizations named in the letter, did not immediately respond to comments on Friday, including questions about the possible restoration of federal funding.
In perhaps the most controversial move, Columbia said she would appoint a senior vice -president to oversee the Middle East, South Asia and African department. The White House had asked the Department to be put under academic forced management, a rare federal intervention in an internal process usually intended to be a lasting solution in response to prolonged periods of malfunction.
Columbia does not refer to the movement associated with the Middle East Study as forced management, but many members of the school have said they seem to be similar to this measure.
Legal scholars and supporters of academic freedom expressed alert on Friday for what they described as Columbia’s dangerous tradition to President Trump at a dangerous moment for higher education. Some critics of the university’s response said they were afraid that the White House could target any recipient of federal funds, including K-12 public schools, hospitals, nursing homes and business initiatives.
Sheldon Pollock, a retired former president of the Department of Studies of the Middle East of the University, said in a text message that “the Columbia School is completely overwhelmed and deeply disappointed with the capitulation of administrators in the sophisticated behavior of the federal government”.
“This is a shameful day in Columbia history,” said Dr. Pollock, adding that it will “endanger academic freedom, teachers’ governance and the excellence of the American university system”.
Columbia movements were first mentioned by the Wall Street Journal.
The school’s response to the administration’s demands was the last shift in a hectic phase that began 17 months ago, when the pre-Israel and pre-Palestinian students organized competitive protests on the days after October 7th of Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Since then, the Manhattan campus has experienced a rare call from the police to eliminate the protests, the resignation of the President and the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate, from federal immigration officials.
Emergency cancellation of funding for the university has escalated the crisis, inappropriate research involving dozens of medical and scientific studies. (The university did not mention the loss of funds to describe the steps it took.)
In the social media, Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight’s First Amendment Institute in Columbia, called it “a sad day for Columbia and our Republic”.
Others said a wholesale review was suitable in the light of conflict and tension on campus in recent semesters.
Ester R. Fuchs, who supported the university’s anti -Semitism team, said that many of the administration’s changes seemed to be issues previously underlined by the team.
“What is exciting for me is many of them are things we needed to become and become, but now we have become faster,” said Dr. Fuchs, who is also a professor of international and public affairs and political sciences.
He added: “We completely support the principles of academic freedom.”
Among other changes, the university also stated that the administration would work to adopt a university “institutional neutrality”. He said he would move an independent group of schools, students and members of the staff who are handling disciplinary procedures under the Office of Provost – and that members will be “limited to teachers and managers”.
The school also agreed to revise import policies for possible bias, as it “identified a recent recession in both the Jewish and African American registration” and last week announced a series of disciplinary action against a non -announced number of students.
Despite the revision, the current chapter in the 270 year history of Columbia may not be over. Trump’s administration told the University that meeting with its demands was “prerequisite for official negotiations” in a continuous economic relationship and that the White House may require other “immediate and long -term structural reforms”.
Columbia changes are remarkable for their scope and how quickly they were. But it is not the only institution to make concessions, such as the White House shows that his campaign against elite universities and colleges will not end at Morningside Heights campus.
Federal money is the soul of major research universities, and some have begun to remain quiet on hot buttons in the hope of escaping the anger of administration. Many, including the University of California this week, have fallen from diversity -related efforts.
Many of the changes that Columbia agreed to make involve issues that were points of dispute on campus for some time.
Face masks, for example, appeared as a source of conflict last year amid Gaza protests, with protesters saying that they should be able to hide their identity to avoid seeing others arguing that the mask that makes it difficult to keep them.
The booking of this month of Mr Khalil, a prominent figure in the protests that stood out because he chose not to wear a mask, threw the issue of the issue.
But the placement of the Middle Eastern Studies Department, which has long been in a battle for his scholarship and the employment of teachers who describe themselves as anti-Sionist, external control caused a unique rage.
Columbia said the senior vice -president would review the curriculum and recruitment in various programs, including the Palestinian Center and the Israeli Institute of Jewish Studies. The university has stated that the move was aimed at “promoting excellence in regional studies”.
But Michael Thaddeus, Columbia Mathematics Professor who described Dr. Armstrong with “deep frustration and alarm”, he called it “a giant step under a very dangerous road”.
He was worried that the Middle East Studies Department would be effectively run by a “member of the Columbia’s Thought” who could intervene in any of the courses offers to school appointments. “It appears in the heart of academic freedom,” said Professor Thaddeus.
“Of all the bad things,” Continue. “This is really the worst.”
Katherine Rosman They contributed reports.
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