Trump administration cuts $400 million to Columbia University due to antisemitism
Federal antisemitism task force announces cancellations of grants and contracts with NY private university, in most significant step yet in crackdown against colleges
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
NEW YORK — US federal authorities on Friday announced the cancellation of $400 million in grants and contracts with New York’s Columbia University due to campus antisemitism.
The cuts marked the most significant action yet taken by the Trump administration in its planned crackdown on anti-Jewish discrimination at universities.
The US Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and the General Services Administration — all involved in the Trump Administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism — announced the cancellations in a statement citing Columbia’s “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
The statement said the cuts were the “first round of action” and more cancellations are expected, noting that the university has more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments.
“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism. This is only the beginning,” said Leo Terrell, the head of the antisemitism task force, in a statement.
The agencies said they will issue stop-work orders for the grants and contracts that will immediately freeze Columbia’s access to the funding. There were no details about the programs that will lose funding.
The White House published a graphic labeled “Shalom Columbia” on its X account.
SHALOM COLUMBIA: The Trump Admin, led by @USEDgov and the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @HHSGov, & @USGSA), has canceled ~$400M in federal grants to @Columbia over its failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. pic.twitter.com/CavoXbhhvx
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 7, 2025
A Columbia spokesperson told The Times of Israel, “We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding.”
“We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff,” the spokesperson said.
The task force warned Columbia about potential cuts earlier this week and said on Friday that “chaos and anti-Semitic harassment have continued on and near campus in the days since.”
Since the warning, student activists have protested against an event at Columbia hosted by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, took over a campus library and scuffled with police, distributed Hamas propaganda, and held a demonstration with hardline, non-student activist groups.
Some of those protests took place on Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia. The protest groups include students from both institutions; four protesters arrested at Barnard this week were from Columbia. The university said they had been suspended.
The antisemitism task force also said last week that it would visit 10 university campuses that have seen antisemitic incidents since October 2023, including Columbia and Harvard.
In another warning, Trump said Tuesday that he will cut federal funding to any educational institution “that allows illegal protests” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The US State Department on Friday reportedly revoked the visa of a foreign student who participated in pro-Hamas demonstrations.
Columbia was wracked by raucous anti-Israel protests last year, culminating in a protest encampment at the center of campus that inspired similar demonstrations nationwide and the student takeover of a campus library. The Columbia administration called police in to forcibly clear the library, resulting in dozens of arrests.
Protests at Columbia have reignited following the expulsion of two students who disrupted an Israeli professor’s class at the start of the spring semester. In response, anti-Israel protesters last week invaded a campus building at Barnard, injuring a university employee and causing $30,000 in damage.
