The Trump administration has been hard at work this week taking action against pro-Hamas agitators on college campuses. The State Department is using artificial intelligence (AI) to crack down on such protesters, and one student has already had a visa revoked, as was revealed on Thursday. News came on Friday as well, as the Trump administration is canceling $400 million in grants to Columbia University, which, along with its sister school of Barnard College, has been facing a particularly high volume of takeovers on campus by pro-Hamas terrorist sympathizers.
The $400 million cancelation isn't the end of it. As The Free Press reported on Friday:
The Trump administration is cutting off $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University, claiming it has failed to take steps to confront antisemitism on campus after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, The Free Press has learned.
The cuts represent the federal government’s first round of grant cancellations for Columbia, according to the administration’s newly formed antisemitism task force, which is leading the effort. Columbia has over $5 billion in active federal grants that are being reviewed by the government.
Leo Terrell, the head of the DOJ’s antisemitism task force, said the funding cuts are “only the beginning.”
“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus.”
...
The Departments of Education and Health and Human Services plan to immediately issue stop-work orders on grants to the school, the task force said. The task force provided no specifics to The Free Press on the programs affected.
Columbia shared a statement with The Free Press. "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 statement read.
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The move is not without warning, as the Trump administration informed Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong that her school could lose over $5 billion in federal funding:
The move comes just days after the Trump administration wrote to Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong, threatening to pull over $5 billion in federal funding unless Columbia immediately addressed antisemitism on its campus.
According to a representative from the task force, Armstrong did not respond to the letter, although the university did release a public statement, saying, “We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism,” adding that "glorifying violence or terror has no place at our university.”
This week and last week, as we covered, Barnard College was taken over by pro-Hamas agitators. Earlier this week, they even refused to leave after the police were called due to a bomb threat, though The Free Press article mentions that "Barnard President Laura Rosenbury noted that the police were called to clear the building after receiving notice of a bomb threat, not because students took over the building in protest."
The Washington Free Beacon has also written about the nine individuals arrested as a result of Tuesday's takeover. They include those from Columbia, Barnard, Union Theological Seminary, and other unaffiliated schools in the area.
NYC - 9 rioters arrested after violently storming Barnard College this week:
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) March 7, 2025
Arrestees:
- Symmes Cannon (Columbia)
- Gabrielle Wimer (Columbia)
- Hannah Puelle (Columbia)
- Yunseo Chung (Columbia)
- Tramy Dong (Barnard)
- Christopher Holmes (Union Theological Seminary)
- Three… pic.twitter.com/ipm6xX7eAF
The news about the cuts was celebrated by StopAntisemitism, with Executive Director Liora Rez having previously told The New York Post that her organization "expects this to be just the first of many long-overdue actions to root out the vile Jew-hatred festering within elite institutions."
Earlier in the week, @nypost reporting with commentary from our Executive Director @LioraRez , says the organization “expects this to be just the first of many long-overdue actions to root out the vile Jew-hatred festering within elite institutions”.https://t.co/Ub8l71EH3n
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) March 7, 2025
Last week, President Donald Trump himself warned in a Truth Social post that schools allowing for "illegal protests" would lose funding. He also warned that agitators would be arrested and that those here from other countries would be deported. Trump's post also emphasized "NO MASKS!" Sure enough, the agitators taking over Barnard this week and last week could be seen in masks.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 4, 2025
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