US education czar says Columbia on track to restore federal funding after reforms promised

US Education Secretary Linda McMahon says Columbia University is “on the right track” toward recovering federal funding after the elite New York City university agreed to implement a host of policy changes regarding its approach to Israel studies and Jewish students demanded by the Trump administration.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, McMahon describes “great conversations” she had with Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong.

“She said she knew that this was her responsibility to make sure that children on her campus were safe,” McMahon says. “She wanted to make sure there was no discrimination of any kind. She wanted to address any systemic issues that were identified relative to the antisemitism on campus.”

Armstrong announced Friday that the university would put its Middle East studies department under new supervision and overhaul its rules for protests and student discipline. It also agreed to adopt a new definition of antisemitism and expand “intellectual diversity” by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, according to an outline posted on its website.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other funding over how the university handled protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. In order to consider restoring those funds and billions more in future grants, federal officials demanded nine separate changes to the university’s academic and security policies.

Asked whether the university had done enough to secure its funding, McMahon says, “We are on the right track now to make sure the final negotiations to unfreeze that money will be in place.”