Columbia University will pay $221 million to settle claims of discriminatory practices and restore federal funding. Photo / Getty Images
By Susan Svrluga and Emily Davies
Columbia University and the Trump administration have agreed to resolve a months-long dispute over federal funding cuts.
The Ivy League school and the White House confirmed on Wednesday evening (local time) that Columbia will pay the United States US$200 million ($330 million) to settle claims related to discriminatory practices, an additional $21 million to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and adds some external oversight to the university.
The White House characterised the agreement as a historic settlement “to address violations of federal civil rights laws and to restore fairness, merit and safety in higher education”.
Columbia University’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said the agreement restores the vast majority of the US$400m ($660m) in federal research funding paused by the administration this spring, and restores the school’s partnership with the federal Government.
“Importantly, the agreement preserves Columbia’s autonomy and authority over faculty hiring, admissions and academic decision-making,” she said.
The agreement marks an end to a protracted period of federal scrutiny and financial uncertainty, 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.”
For months, Columbia has been in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. It was the first to be singled out in the administration’s push to compel universities to adopt its agenda on issues including antisemitism and diversity initiatives.
In March, the Education Secretary announced $400 million in federal research funding would be cancelled over what officials alleged were the school’s failures to protect Jewish students from discrimination. The next day, a Columbia student, Mahmoud Khalil, became the first pro-Palestinian advocate seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a series of high-profile attempts to deport non-citizen activists. (A federal judge ordered Khalil’s release from detention in June.)
Three days after the funding freeze, the Education Department sent a letter that set out its demands, including changes to student discipline, a mask ban, and the right to monitor an academic department as preconditions to restoring funding.
Columbia announced several changes – some of them long in the works – including clarifying rules for campus demonstrations, appointing a senior vice-provost to review Middle East programmes, seeking to increase the intellectual diversity of the faculty, and training additional public safety officers to remove and arrest protesters.
But its funding was not restored in response, and tense negotiations have been under way for months.
The school had been the centre of protests over the Israel-Gaza war during the 2023-2024 academic year, with an encampment in the spring that sparked similar demonstrations at colleges across the country, and a takeover of a university building that was cleared by New York police officers.
The protests were divisive: as college leaders struggled to balance freedom of speech with student safety, some Jewish and Israeli students at Columbia and elsewhere said that school officials had not done enough to stop rising antisemitism. Students reported being ostracised from clubs for supporting Israel, seeing protesters handing out fliers promoting Hamas, and instances of signs displayed with target symbols.
Some other students, including pro-Palestinian activists, criticised the school for trying to stifle views critical of Israel and not standing up to federal intrusion into campus policies.
This past academic year was much calmer, but on the first day of classes in the spring semester, masked protesters burst into a course on the history of modern Israel and handed out fliers, including one labelled “Crush Zionism” with a drawing of a boot stomping on a Star of David. And pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed the school’s main library in May, disrupting hundreds of students studying for finals. Police dispersed the demonstration, arresting scores of people.
The Trump administration’s antisemitism task force praised Columbia’s forceful response. But the school’s research funding was not restored.
In June, tShipman, told the campus community that the challenges to Columbia’s research mission and the entire institution were “becoming increasingly acute” and that they were reaching a “tipping point”. She said it was essential to restore their research partnership with the federal Government and that the university will comply with the law.
She also laid out some red lines: “We must maintain our autonomy and independent governance. We decide who teaches at our institution, what they teach, and which students we admit.”
Any agreement they might reach, she said, must align with those values.
Columbia is just one of dozens of schools targeted by the Trump administration as it seeks to change campus culture, including university hiring practices, admissions, penalties for antisemitism, and other matters. The administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal research funding to several high-profile schools – including more than $2 billion at Harvard, which has fought back with two lawsuits.
This month, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to rescind a transgender athlete’s awards and apologise for allowing her to compete on the university’s swim team in 2022.
The Trump administration had announced it was freezing $175 million at Penn over the issue. A White House spokesperson said Friday there are no restrictions to Penn’s funding.
While focused broadly on a campaign to change the nation’s higher education system, President Donald Trump has taken particular interest in Columbia. Then-candidate Trump was in New York City for one of his criminal trials when the anti-Israel demonstrations erupted on the Upper West Side campus, producing images of clashes between students waving Palestinian flags and police dressed in riot gear. He asked to go to the campus to “show solidarity with Jewish people”, a senior White House official said. His team ultimately rejected his request because of logistics and security concerns, the official said.
Trump and his allies have put immense pressure on powerful institutions, often winning significant concessions. Since winning a second term, Trump and his administration have struck deals or reached settlements with media companies, social media titans and prominent law firms.
rump this year issued executive orders hitting law firms he disliked with heavy penalties, including saying they should be stripped of federal contracts and their employees blocked from federal buildings. Four firms filed lawsuits challenging his actions, and judges have blocked the orders aimed at those practices.
But nine other law firms, hoping to rescind or avoid similar sanctions, instead struck deals with the administration.
Mark Berman contributed to this report.