A federal task force created by President Trump could also pull over $50 million in contracts with the university according to an announcement Monday
March 4, 2025 15:47
The US Government has announced that it will conduct a “comprehensive review” of $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University due to what it termed the school’s “ongoing inaction in the face of relentless harassment of Jewish students”.
A joint statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the plan on Monday, adding that the federal government’s new Task Force to Combat Antisemitism is considering halting $51.4 million worth in contracts with Columbia University.
“Americans have watched in horror for more than a year now, as Jewish students have been assaulted and harassed on elite university campuses—repeatedly overrun by antisemitic students and agitators,” said the new Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who was sworn in earlier that day. “Unlawful encampments and demonstrations have completely paralysed day-to-day campus operations, depriving Jewish students of learning opportunities to which they are entitled.”
She added: “Institutions that receive federal funds have a responsibility to protect all students from discrimination. Columbia’s apparent failure to uphold their end of this basic agreement raises very serious questions about the institution’s fitness to continue doing business with the United States government.”
According to Columbia University’s financial overview for fiscal year 2024, it received $1.3 billion in government grants.
The university was at the centre of the anti-Israel protests that plagued college campuses around the country last year, as student demonstrators set up encampments on university property to demand the cessation of US support for Israel.
The protests led to a building occupation, over 100 arrests and the resignation of university president Minouche Shafik, who Jewish organisations accused of failing to respond adequately to antisemitic prejudice on campus.
The university responded to the announcement on Monday, stating that it is “fully committed to combatting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our University".
“We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff,” a spokesperson added.
The Federal Task Force announced on Friday that it would visit 10 universities that have experienced allegedly antisemitic incidents on campus since October 2023, including Columbia. The Department of Justice said the force will meet with university officials, students, staff and local law enforcement to determine “whether remedial action is warranted”, in another show of the early efforts of the Trump administration to staunch campus antisemitism.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who was accused in 2023 of promoting an antisemitic COVID-19 conspiracy theory, commented on the motion to review federal grants to Columbia University: “Antisemitism – like racism – is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.
“In recent years, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture have transformed our great universities into greenhouses for this deadly and virulent pestilence. Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate,” Kennedy said.
Meanwhile, last year, the UK Government announced a £7 million fund to tackle the issue of antisemitism in UK schools, colleges and universities. The commitment came in response to the number of incidents of antisemitic abuse more than doubling in the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier.