U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering an immediate freeze of $51.4 million in federal funding for Columbia University, citing the institution’s “ongoing inaction in the face of relentless harassment of Jewish students.”
A joint team from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the General Services Administration (GSA) announced that they would also examine all federal contracts and grants awarded to Columbia in the second phase of the review, totaling more than $5 billion. This marks the first major step taken by the federal task force on antisemitism, established by executive order.
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Pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia Univesity
(Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
The interagency task force is focused on academic institutions suspected of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs. One of the measures under consideration is issuing stop-work orders on contracts between the university and the federal government.
This also marks the first major action taken by newly appointed Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “Americans have watched in horror for more than a year now, as Jewish students have been assaulted and harassed on elite university campuses. Unlawful encampments and demonstrations have completely paralyzed day-to-day campus operations, depriving Jewish students of learning opportunities to which they are entitled,” she said Sunday.
“Institutions that receive federal funds have a responsibility to protect all students from discrimination. Columbia’s apparent failure to uphold their end of this basic agreement raises very serious questions about the institution’s fitness to continue doing business with the United States government,” she said.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. added: “Antisemitism – like racism – is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.”
No immediate action has been taken against Columbia University but the federal review is ongoing and could have significant financial consequences for the university.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Columbia has become a focal point for pro-Palestinian protests across U.S. campuses. In April 2024, a student group took over Hamilton Hall to protest the suspension of previous demonstrators, leading to intervention by the NYPD and the arrest of hundreds of students.
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Then-president Minouche Shafik faced harsh criticism for calling in police and later announced that law enforcement would no longer be allowed on campus to remove protesters. In August, she resigned, partly due to backlash over her handling of the demonstrations. Columbia’s new president, Professor Katrina Armstrong, has since publicly apologized to pro-Palestinian students for the administration’s response.
Last week, several dozen pro-Palestinian students reenacted past protests, blocking the dean’s office at Barnard College, Columbia’s women’s college. They refused to remove their masks or discuss their demands with administrators.
One staff member was assaulted during the incident and required medical treatment. Barnard College Dean Professor Laura Rosenbury said that the demonstrators caused $30,000 in damages, broke into a food pantry for low-income students and attacked a college official who encountered them while trying to access the restrooms.
In an op-ed, Rosenbury wrote: “This wasn’t an isolated incident but an escalation of an ongoing threat to our community. Over the last year and a half, an unauthorized group of anonymous individuals calling themselves Columbia University Apartheid Divest have exploited the conflict in the Middle East to try to tear our campus community — our Barnard home — apart.”
She added, “They operate in the shadows, hiding behind masks and Instagram posts with Molotov cocktails aimed at Barnard buildings, antisemitic tropes about wealth, influence and ‘Zionist billionaires,’ and calls for violence and disruption at any cost.”
The protests have also affected Columbia’s financial support. During its most recent annual fundraising event, the university saw a 29% drop in donations, raising $21.4 million compared to $30 million in 2022. The number of individual donations also fell sharply, from 19,229 to 13,870 — the lowest figure since 2015.
Meanwhile, the federal task force announced on Friday that it would conduct audits at 10 universities that have experienced antisemitic incidents since October 2023. The targeted institutions include Columbia, George Washington University, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Northwestern, UCLA, UC Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California.
"Reviewing the federal government’s message and hope to work with the White House to fight antisemitism,” Columbia said in a statement. “Columbia is fully committed to combatting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our University.”