The Trump administration on Thursday pressured Columbia University to make several major reforms, describing its demands as a “precondition” for potentially restoring the university’s federal funding, as more federal agents showed up on its campus to search two student rooms.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it was pulling about $400 million in federal grants and contracts from the university, accusing it of failing to protect its Jewish students during peaceful pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year.
In a letter addressed to interim President Katrina Armstrong, the administration said it was following up to outline the “immediate next steps that we regard as a precondition for formal negotiations regarding Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.”
The letter, signed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and the General Services Administration, demands that all changes be completed by close of business March 20.
“We expect your immediate compliance with these critical next steps,” it states.
The Trump administration says the university must enforce disciplinary proceedings for actions in the spring of 2024 when peaceful student demonstrators took over common areas to protest Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Meaningful discipline means expulsion or multi-year suspension,” the letter underlines.
Prior to receiving the letter, Columbia on Thursday said it has expelled or suspended some students who occupied Hamilton Hall during the protests. The University Judicial Board, which the Trump administration wants to abolish, held hearings for each student, The Associated Press said.
The Trump administration is also calling on the university to centralize all disciplinary processes under the Office of the President, “ban masks that are intended to conceal identity or intimidate others, with exceptions for religious and health reasons,” and present an action plan to hold all student groups accountable.
“Recognized student groups and individuals operating as constituent members of, or providing support for, unrecognized groups engaged in violations of University policy must be held accountable through formal investigations, disciplinary proceedings, and expulsion as appropriate,” it said.
The letter also demands that Columbia formalizes and promulgates a definition for antisemitism.
“Anti-‘Zionist’ discrimination against Jews in areas unrelated to Israel or [the] Middle East must be addressed,” it said.
The Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department would also be placed “under academic receivership for a minimum of five years,” meaning faculty would no longer be in charge of the department, if the administration gets its way.
The letter also asks that the academic institution empower Columbia security with full law enforcement authority, reform its admissions policy and enact rules to prevent disruption on campus.
A spokesperson for the university said Columbia is reviewing the message.
“We are committed at all times to advancing our mission, supporting our students, and addressing all forms of discrimination and hatred on our campus,” they told The New York Times.
The letter “basically says, ‘We’ll destroy Columbia unless you destroy it first,’“Jameel Jaffer, the director of Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, wrote on Bluesky.
Meanwhile, in a university-wide email on Thursday evening, Armstrong said she was “heartbroken to inform” community members that federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security with judicial search warrants scoured two student rooms Thursday night.
“No one was arrested or detained,” Armstrong said. “No items were removed, and no further action was taken.”
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Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil at his university-owned apartment, threatened to revoke his green card and moved him to a Louisiana ICE facility.
Khalil has since sued Columbia to prevent the university from providing a list of student activists’ names to lawmakers in Washington.