by WorldTribune Staff, July 24, 2025 Real World News
Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump Administration in which it agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government to settle allegations the school violated anti-discrimination laws in return for the the restoration of hundreds of millions in research grants President Donald Trump had pulled from the university in March.
Under the agreement, Columbia will pay the $200 million to the federal government over three years. The university also agreed to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for $21 million.
Trump canceled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia in March, charging that the university had violated civil-rights laws by ignoring what it called harassment of Jewish students after the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
After this week’s deal, the Ivy League school in New York City will also be able to access federal funding in the future.
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” said Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman. “Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.”
In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote:
I am pleased to announce that the Trump Administration has reached a historic agreement with Columbia University. Columbia has agreed to pay a penalty of $200 Million Dollars to the United States Government for violating Federal Law, in addition to over $20 Million to their Jewish employees who were unlawfully targeted and harassed. Columbia has also committed to ending their ridiculous DEI policies, admitting students based ONLY on MERIT, and protecting the Civil Liberties of their students on campus. Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming. It’s a great honor to have been involved, and I want to thank and congratulate Secretary Linda McMahon, and all those who worked with us on this important deal. I also want to thank and commend Columbia University for agreeing to do what is right. I look forward to watching them have a great future in our Country, maybe greater than ever before!
“The deal doesn’t include a consent decree, which the Trump Administration initially pursued. That would have given a federal judge responsibility for ensuring Columbia changes its practices,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
A “jointly selected independent monitor” will assess Columbia’s compliance with the resolution, including guidelines around admissions and faculty hiring. The resolution names Bart M. Schwartz, a former chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, as the monitor.
Lauren Witzke, a strident critic of the special U.S. relationship with Israel and Jewish elites, wrote in a social media post:
“Do Christians, White people, MAGA supporters, and other Conservatives receive anything for experiencing decades of actual discrimination and harassment from college campuses? No, they don’t, just people who have been slightly inconvenienced by their fellow liberal peers since Oct 7th. Ridiculous!”
The Trump administration’s battle with Columbia was the first of a series of broadsides against research universities that depend on federal funds to operate. It helped fulfill a campaign promise made by Trump to rein in the progressive ideas at elite universities that he said amounted to a “Marxist assault on our American heritage and Western civilization itself.”
The White House’s battle with Harvard University continues.
On Monday, a federal judge heard arguments from Harvard, which contended the government had no basis to cut $2.2 billion in research funding. Lawyers for the government insisted it has the power to cancel contracts with universities that no longer align with government priorities.
Even Ivy League is not above the law? Columbia U settles with U.S. added by Editor Two on
View all posts by Editor Two →