Columbia settles with the Trump administration: What to know

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Welcome to The Logoff: Columbia College has struck a take care of the Trump administration to revive federal analysis funding in trade for a $200 million settlement and different concessions.

What’s the context? Columbia has been trying to return to phrases with the Trump administration because it canceled $400 million in analysis funding for the college in March, accusing Columbia of allowing antisemitism on campus. Columbia subsequently caved to a variety of calls for, however solely now succeeded in regaining its federal funding.

Why did Trump go after Columbia? The administration has focused no less than 60 universities for alleged antisemitism, however Columbia obtained explicit focus. It was the location of high-profile pro-Palestinian protests in April 2024, which spurred comparable demonstrations at universities throughout the nation. And simply at some point after the administration froze Columbia’s funding, scholar activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained for 104 days.

What did Columbia conform to? The deal requires Columbia to pay $200 million to the Trump administration over three years to settle discrimination allegations, in addition to $21 million over a separate investigation. It additionally contains provisions about range, fairness, and inclusion packages at Columbia, worldwide scholar admissions, and Title IX.

What are the implications of the deal? Columbia’s settlement would possibly spell the tip of the college’s months-long conflict with the Trump administration — but it surely virtually definitely received’t mark the tip of President Donald Trump’s efforts to assault American greater schooling. The administration’s battle with Harvard is ongoing, and a variety of different analysis universities, together with Princeton, Brown, Cornell, and Northwestern, have had analysis funding frozen.

What’s the massive image? Since returning to workplace, Trump has got down to break American establishments that don’t cater to his calls for — firms like Disney and Paramount, universities like Columbia and UPenn, and white-shoe regulation companies like Paul Weiss. Regularly, he has succeeded, regardless of providing solely skinny pretenses of wrongdoing. It’s a regarding sample, one generally present in authoritarian regimes.

And with that, it’s time to sign off…

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