Columbia University Settles $221M Antisemitism Probe With Trump Administration
Columbia University will pay $221 million to settle a federal probe into antisemitic harassment on campus. It is the first of such settlements and could set a precedent for other schools that President Trump has scrutinized, including Harvard.
Columbia says it will maintain academic freedom — including decisions on admission, hiring, and academic content — which was key to its negotiations. But it will share data on admitted and rejected students broken down by race, grade point average, and standardized test scores — after the White House argued the school has discriminated based on race and religion.
The Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action in college admissions in 2023.
Rewind: In the spring, the Trump administration canceled around $400 million of federal grants and contracts to Columbia, with an additional $1.2 billion in future research funding likely threatened. Months later, the administration’s federal Title VI investigation concluded that Columbia acted with “deliberate indifference” toward harassment of Jewish students and staff by failing to prevent vandalism, enforce protest rules, protect Jewish students’ access to classes, or respond meaningfully to complaints.
WHAT’S INSIDE THE SETTLEMENT
Columbia will pay $200 million to the government over three years, plus $21 million to Jewish employees who faced discrimination. The university will also be subject to independent monitoring. Columbia did not admit to any wrongdoing.
Why settle? Like many legal settlements, the agreement is likely meant to avoid a costly court battle which could have revealed negative details about the school.
A congressional committee investigating antisemitism on college campuses recently released texts showing Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, criticizing a Jewish trustee who was outspoken about treatment of Jewish students on campus. Shipman has since apologized. In 2024, three university administrators were put on leave after their alleged texts were released.
Who’s next? The case raises broader questions about elite institutions — from universities and law firms to media companies like CBS and ABC — and the calculations they are making to appease the Trump administration as it aims to shake up the status quo.
Here’s what Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a top Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential election, had to say about that:
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