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Reuters
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Judge dismisses Columbia University faculty lawsuit over Trump funding cuts, demands
NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Trump administration by two labor unions for Columbia University faculty that challenged funding cuts and demands to overhaul student discipline and boost oversight for a Middle Eastern studies department. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in Manhattan said the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers lacked legal standing to sue, with Columbia itself "conspicuously absent" from the case. "Our democracy cannot very well function if individual judges issue extraordinary relief to every plaintiff who clamors to object to executive action," Vyskocil wrote. "If any funds have been wrongfully withheld, such funds may be recovered at the end of a successful lawsuit by the appropriate plaintiff in an appropriate forum," she added. "It is not the role of a district court judge to direct the policies of the Executive Branch first and ask questions later." Both plaintiffs plan to appeal. "The Trump administration's threats and coercion at Columbia University are part of an authoritarian agenda that extends far beyond Columbia," Todd Wolfson, president of the professors' union, said in a statement. "We will continue to fight back." Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, ruled 12 days after the Department of Education threatened to revoke Columbia's accreditation over the university's alleged failure to protect Jewish students, including from pro-Palestinian protests. Columbia was the first major U.S. university targeted in President Donald Trump's effort to conform higher education to his policies. It has acceded to some White House demands, including by boosting security and announcing a review, opens new tab of its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department. Other schools, including Harvard University, have fought Trump in court. The labor unions' lawsuit originally targeted $400 million of Columbia funding cuts, and later sought an injunction to prevent the Trump administration from interfering with more than $5 billion of grants and contracts. Vyskocil said that to the extent the unions "feel chilled" by recent changes at Columbia, they have not shown that the changes were "merely the 'predictable' response" to White House demands. The case is American Association of University Professors et al v. U.S. Department of Justice et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-02429.
Bloomberg
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
US Defeats Teachers Unions' Lawsuit to Restore Columbia Funding
The Trump administration won dismissal of a lawsuit by two unions seeking to stop the withholding of $400 million in federal funds from Columbia University, saying the groups didn't have the legal right to challenge the decision. The American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers filed the lawsuit in response to US Education Secretary Linda McMahon's announcement that the administration was pulling grants and contracts from the school following a series of pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Texas becomes latest state to push for political control over ‘woke' universities
Texas universities may soon see significant changes as legislation potentially granting boards greater control over curriculum and the power to eliminate degree programs awaits approval by Governor Greg Abbott. This move aligns with a broader trend in Republican-led states, including Florida and Ohio, seeking to reshape higher education institutions perceived as promoting liberal ideologies. These actions coincide with increased federal intervention under the Trump administration, which has utilized funding and student visa authority to curb campus activism and diversity initiatives. Critics, including professors like Isaac Kamola, Director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors, argue that such measures infringe upon academic freedom. Kamola describes the situation as "an existential attack on higher education," highlighting concerns that political influence is being used to enforce ideological conformity within universities. A Texas effort to shape general education requirements Under the Texas legislation, governing boards at higher education institutions will be tasked with reviewing — and potentially overturning — general education curriculum requirements to ensure courses are necessary to prepare students for civic and professional life, equip them for the workforce and are worth the cost to students. Governing boards also will gain greater power over faculty councils, the employment of academic administrators and decisions to eliminate minor degree or certificate programs that have low enrollment. The bill also creates a state ombudsman's office to investigate complaints against institutions, including alleged violations of restrictions against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 'The objective of this legislation is to provide consistency with respect to our curriculum and the degrees we're offering our students,' Republican state Rep. Matt Shaheen, co-sponsor of the legislation, said during House floor debate. Ray Bonilla, an attorney for the Texas A&M University System, one of the state's largest higher education institutions, said the legislation formalizes decisions already being made at the university and wouldn't create an 'undue workload.' But Democratic state Rep. Donna Howard said during a May committee hearing that the legislation 'appears to be extreme micromanagement on the part of the Legislature.' 'The bill is not about improving education, it is about increasing control,' Howard said during the debate. An Ohio law mandates specific curriculum In Ohio, a new law bans DEI programs at public colleges and universities, strips faculty of certain collective bargaining and tenure protections and mandates a civil literacy course in order to graduate. In addition to covering the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the three-credit-hour course must include a least five essays from the Federalist Papers, the 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' by Martin Luther King Jr. and a study of the principles of Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations,' among other things. The law also places restrictions on the handling of 'controversial beliefs or policies,' defined to include climate, immigration or foreign policy, electoral politics, DEI programs, marriage and abortion. While testifying for his bill, Republican state Sen. Jerry Cirino cited John Dewey - one of the fathers of progressive education - to condemn what he believes to be a hard tack in the other direction at colleges and universities. 'He believed that all theories should be examined and debated,' Cirino told fellow lawmakers. 'He would certainly have been against the woke conformity we see on so many campuses and the clearly demonstrated liberal leanings of faculty and staff who will not tolerate alternative views.' Christopher McKnight Nichols, an Ohio State University history professor, said the law has already driven some faculty members to sanitize their websites of 'controversial' content, alter course descriptions and, in some cases, cancel courses altogether. He said it's never been proven that faculty members are systematically punishing students who don't share their political beliefs. Nichols is among a coalition of Ohio educators, students and administrators fighting back against the new law. Opponents face a late June deadline to collect enough signatures to place a referendum overturning it on the November ballot. A movement with roots in a Trump order and Florida In some ways, the efforts to exert greater state control over college faculty and curriculums are moving higher education closer to a governing model generally seen in K-12 education, said Alec Thomson, president of the National Council for Higher Education at the National Education Association. 'It's a concerning change in the sense that you would expect the institutions to have a fair amount of autonomy to make these decisions about curriculum,' added Thomson, a professor of political science and history at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan. During his first term in 2020, Trump issued an executive order 'combating race and sex stereotyping' in federal agencies and contracting that forbid the promotion of 'divisive concepts,' including that one race or sex is 'inherently superior' to another, that individuals should feel guilty because of their race or sex and that merit-based systems are racist or sexist. Similar prohibitions on divisive concepts soon appeared in model bills backed by conservative think tanks and in state higher education laws, including in Florida in 2022. The next year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis initiated a makeover of the New College of Florida — a small liberal arts school once known as the state's most progressive — by appointing a group of conservatives to its governing board. DeSantis then traveled to the campus to sign a law barring public funds from going to DEI activities in higher education or promoting political or social activism. Governors and lawmakers this year have taken about twice as many actions targeting DEI initiatives as last year, according to an Associated Press analysis aided by the bill-tracking software Plural. Among those is a new Idaho law that not only bans DEI offices and programs in higher education but also addresses what's taught in the classroom. It prohibits colleges and universities from requiring students to take DEI-related courses to meet graduation requirements, unless they're pursuing degrees in race or gender studies.
