Columbia ends uncertainty with Trump deal, says university's acting head

Straits Times

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Acting president Claire Shipman said Columbia's settlement with the Trump administration restored access to US$1.3 billion in federal funding and reinstated US$400 million in frozen grants.
WASHINGTON - Columbia University's
agreement to pay over US$200 million (S$250 million) to the US government in a settlement with President Donald Trump's administration to resolve federal probes and restore most of its suspended federal funding ends a period of 'institutional uncertainty,' the university's acting president said.
Mr Trump has targeted several universities since returning to office in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled college campuses in 2024.
'The resolution will allow the university to move forward with clarity and focus - returning our full attention to the work of teaching, discovery, and public service,' acting president Claire Shipman said in a statement, adding that under the settlement the university did not admit to violating civil rights laws.
In March, the Trump administration said it was penalising Columbia over how it handled the 2024 protests by cancelling US$400 million in federal funding.
It contended that Columbia's response to alleged anti-Semitism and harassment of Jewish and Israeli members of the university community was insufficient.
Columbia said it also agreed to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for US$21 million and that its deal with the Trump administration preserved its 'autonomy and authority over faculty hiring, admissions, and academic decision-making'.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Columbia agreed 'to discipline student offenders for severe disruptions of campus operations, make structural changes to their Faculty Senate, bring viewpoint diversity to their Middle Eastern studies programmes, eliminate race preferences from their hiring and admissions practices, and end DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programmes.'
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The agreement calls on Columbia to appoint an administrator to oversee the three-year accord and spells out that a provost will review hiring and other practices in its Middle East and other programmes, and a student liaison to help address anti-Semitism issues.
Ms Shipman said the agreement restored access to US$1.3 billion in federal funding and reinstated US$400 million in frozen grants.
Had Columbia fought the Trump administration in court it could have won short-term litigation victories but would have lost federal funding and faced the potential revocation of the visa status of thousands of international students, she said.
After the government cancelled funding, the school acquiesced in March to a series of demands that included scrutiny of departments offering courses on the Middle East and other concessions that were widely condemned by US academics.
The agreement announced on July 23 contained no provisions that 'shall be construed as giving the United States authority to dictate faculty hiring, university hiring, admissions decisions, or the content of academic speech,' Ms Shipman said.
Last week, Columbia adopted a definition of anti-Semitism that equates it with opposition to Zionism. Critics argue anti-Zionism is not inherently anti-Semitic.
Campus protesters demanded an end to US support for Israel's military assault on Gaza after a deadly October 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants, and a commitment that the university will cease investing any of its US$14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and companies that support Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.
The government has labelled pro-Palestinian protesters as anti-Semitic. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government has wrongly conflated their criticism of Israel's actions with anti-Semitism and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.
'We are not denying the very serious and painful challenges our institution has faced with anti-Semitism,' Ms Shipman said. REUTERS