Photo in the Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Columbia University in New York has announced that it will pay more than $1.4 billion to the Trump administration to restore federal funding that the government withheld from the university. This announcement marks the conclusion of a legal dispute between the university and the federal government that began with Donald Trump's inauguration earlier this year.
In an announcement released Wednesday, the 23rd, the university explained that it will pay the government $1.4 billion over three years. Additionally, Columbia University has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle allegations of civil rights violations against its Jewish students.
This announcement is a response to the legal attacks the university has received from the Donald Trump administration. The government has taken away $400 million and threatened to continue pausing its federal funding, putting billions of dollars at risk.
“This agreement represents an important step forward after a period of constant federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty.” – Columbia University Interim President Claire Shipman
Columbia University vs Trump
The Donald Trump administration has denounced the New York university for its alleged mistreatment of its Jewish student population. This context emerges from the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas against the Jewish people in Israel in October 2023. The Israeli government's responses against the Palestinian people have generated several student protests across different university campuses, including Columbia.
The government argues that Columbia University has failed to implement necessary measures to combat antisemitism following this attack. This argument has sparked national controversy, putting a spotlight on the differences between antisemitism and demonstrations against the Israeli government.
Columbia University had already begun to give in their resistance in March of this year. Following Donald Trump's demands, Columbia banned its students from wearing masks to protect their identities. Columbia also decreed that students cannot protest in academic buildings. The university also restructured its academic discipline system and put several programs focusing on international studies under review.
The New Antisemitism
The university joined one of the government's most controversial demands: to apply a particular definition of antisemitism to all of its academic systems; including the new committee they established to investigate the “anti-Semitic activity” of its students. This definition was proposed in 2016, but it has not been adopted at the federal level. In 2019 and 2025, Donald Trump implemented executive orders to require it to be considered:
“Antisemitism is a perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward them. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed at both Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, as well as Jewish community institutions and places of religious worship.” – U.S. Department of State.
The State Department lists several examples of what they now consider anti-Semitic activity, including the following:
“The demonstrations may include attacks directed against the State of Israel, conceived as a Jewish community.”
This is the part of the definition that generates controversy. The protest is a tradition, and an American right, and the State of Israel, despite being an extremely close ally of the United States, has engaged in highly controversial actions that have provoked international criticism. In particular, the atrocities that it continues to commit against the Palestinian people, even if these occur as part of their effort to defend themselves against Hamas.
Columbia: The First to Surrender
The Donald Trump administration has emerged victorious from its legal dispute with Columbia. This sets a worrying precedent for the other universities currently at odds with the government. Harvard University is the other organization that will continue to fight interference, but with the loss of Columbia, things are not looking good.
The outcome of these legal disputes could redefine students' rights to protest policies they disagree with. Columbia students have lost much of their voice, and if Harvard students follow the same path, the American tradition of protest could be transformed beyond recognition.
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