It appears the Trump administration has brought Columbia University to heel after over a year of pro-Hamas antics being allowed on its campus.
The university reportedly signed an agreement with the White House after it cut off funding over its decision to allow antisemitism to flourish on the premises. The deal will involve the university agreeing to the White House’s demands and begin receiving funding once again.
The Trump administration revoked the school’s federal grants earlier this month, citing its “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Indeed, Jewish students have often been targeted by pro-Hamas activists at Columbia University. During their demonstrations, the activists chanted antisemitic phrases such as “Go back to Poland,” “Burn Tel Aviv to the ground,” and “October 7th will happen over and over again…10,000 times.”
Jews at @Columbia were forcibly kept out of classroom discussions, being told to “sit on” their personal and family histories as refugees from the Holocaust. (Pg. 24) pic.twitter.com/FmclCezgrK
— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) August 30, 2024
The Trump administration on March 13 sent a letter to Columbia University’s Interim President Katrina Armstrong outlining a list of nine demands to restore funding. Some of these include enforcing existing disciplinary policies for students who took over Hamilton Hall and set up encampments to protest against Israel. The letter suggests these individuals should be subject to “meaningful discipline,” which includes “expulsion or multi-year suspension.”
Beyond the many videos, a counterpoint from a Jewish student at @Columbia: “On Saturday night, April 20, I was assaulted and harassed repeatedly inside the gates of Columbia University:” https://t.co/Yl40RK2S95 https://t.co/8ghORway0y
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 22, 2024
The White House also demanded that the school ban the wearing of masks “that are intended to conceal identity or intimidate others. The school will also be required to adopt a definition of antisemitism and place “Middle East, South Asian, and African studies departments under academic receivership for a minimum of five years.”
Academic receivership is a process by which a school or one of its programs is placed under external management. This is usually done when there is chronic academic failure or financial mismanagement.
Columbia has already suspended the students involved in the takeover of Hamilton Hall.
Armstrong on Wednesday published a post on the school’s website indicating that it will also agree to the Trump administration’s other demands. She noted that “the last two years have both highlighted real cracks in our existing structures and have created new problems that this campus community needs to address” and affirmed that “Antisemitism, harassment, and discrimination of any kind are unacceptable and imperil both our sense of community as well as our very academic mission.”
She further acknowledged that “students and faculty have experienced online harassment campaigns emanating from within our community” which “imperils their commitment to free expression and academic freedom in the classroom.”
Fixing these harms is part of Columbia’s healing process and just last week, we announced a new policy on anti-doxing and online harassment. In addition, all of our student-facing offices are working around the clock to support the needs of our students. We are committed to implementing policies and procedures that prioritize safety in and outside of the classroom.
While it is good that the university will finally begin taking antisemitism seriously, it is absolutely ridiculous that it took the prospect of losing $400 million to bring the school’s leadership to the table.
Yes, academic institutions should vigorously support free speech and spirited debate. But there is a difference between these two things and allowing rampant harassment and violence to be carried out against people simply because of their religious beliefs or ethnic identity. The fact that these so-called progressives often pretend to care about such issues shows how hypocritical they are in their application of their principles.
One silver lining in this trend is that folks on the hard left have essentially admitted that they do not actually espouse the principles they claim.
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