The Trump administration is immediately pulling $400 million worth of federal funding from Columbia University, saying it failed to fight antisemitism on campus.
A statement issued by four federal agencies said the funding cut was due to “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students”.
In 2024, the New York university was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses against war in Gaza and US support for Israel.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump had threatened to pull funding from schools and universities that allow “illegal protests”.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the statement that Jewish students on campus who had been the victims of “relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses” were “ignored” by university authorities.
“Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer,” she said.
The university is reviewing the announcement, and pledged to work with the government to restore its federal funding, a spokeperson has said.
Columbia is one of the most prestigious universities in the US and has about 30,000 students. Its famous Morningside Heights campus is on the west side of Manhattan.
In 2024 the Ivy League university saw some of the largest and tensest campus demonstrations in the US as students protested against Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
