While Columbia University still won’t admit that it violated civil rights laws in its handling of anti-Semitic student protests, it has come to an agreement with the federal government to restore its funding and continue to accept international students.
Over the course of the next three years, the university will pay the federal government $221 million in recompense for violating antidiscrimination laws against Jewish and Israeli students. Of that, $21 million will go toward a legal settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Columbia has also agreed to have a mutually agreed-upon independent monitor to ensure that the Ivy League is complying with the terms of the deal. An enforcer is needed because the last time former interim president Katrina Armstrong agreed to comply with the federal government, she subsequently turned around and told staff it was just for show and to carry on with business as usual.
Acting President Claire Shipman provided this statement:
I recognize these are substantial settlements. As acting president, together with our Board of Trustees, we had to look at all the facts. We have seen not only $400 million in federal grants frozen, but also the majority of our $1.3 billion a year in federal funding placed on hold. The prospect of that continuing indefinitely, along with the potential loss of top scientists, would jeopardize our status as a world-leading research institution. …
Today’s agreement also codifies a set of reforms Columbia announced publicly on March 21, 2025, which included enhancements to campus safety, changes to disciplinary processes, and renewed efforts to foster an inclusive and respectful learning environment. While Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement, the institution’s leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed.
She “does not admit to wrongdoing,” but then in the next sentence says, “The institution’s leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed.” Is this not in and of itself an admission of wrongdoing? Columbia has let its student rabble-rousers get away with all sorts of terrible tactics and slogans in the name of “free speech.” Former officials have tried to negotiate with the protesters, only to then send them off without consequence, even after they stormed buildings and disrupted study spaces during finals week.
Shipman also stated:
I would also add that making these announcements in no way suggests we are finished with the work. In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that antisemitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding, will take time. It will likely require more reform. But I’m hopeful that in doing this work, as we consider and even debate it, we will start to promote healing and to chart our path forward.
According to the New York Post, that work is being done. Those 70 students who stormed Butler Library are finally facing consequences, and they are severe. Many face three-year suspensions, while others face permanent expulsion.
While one may hate to think that it took a United States president putting pressure on the purse strings to force the university to act decently, it’s good that we have a chief executive willing to confront the giants in higher education in order to bring civil discourse and common courtesy back to our Ivy League campuses. Harvard is hopefully next to fall in line.
