Columbia University reached an agreement with the Trump administration to settle allegations that it failed to stop antisemitism on campus, part of a major deal worked out on Wednesday to restore the school’s federal research funding, the university announced.
Columbia University said on Thursday that is has agreed to pay the Trump administration $200 million over three years, as well as $21 million to settle Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations (EEOC) in exchange for the return of the $400 million in frozen federal grants and the majority of its $1.3 billion a year in federal funding. The Trump administration notably canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to the school, accusing the university of failing to act “in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
“I recognize these are substantial settlements. As Acting President, together with our Board of Trustees, we had to look at all the facts … The prospect of that continuing indefinitely, along with the potential loss of top scientists, would jeopardize our status as a world-leading research institution,” Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman said in a statement.
“Furthermore, as I have discussed on many occasions with our community, we carefully explored all options open to us. We might have achieved short-term litigation victories, but not without incurring deeper long-term damage — the likely loss of future federal funding, the possibility of losing accreditation, and the potential revocation of visa status of thousands of international students,” she continued.
As part of the deal, Columbia also pledged to follow through on commitments it made in March to combat antisemitism and violence on campus, and promised to reject DEI policies in favor of following civil rights laws banning consideration of race in admissions and hiring.
The school’s deal with the Trump administration settles more than half a dozen open civil rights investigations into the university and brings on an independent monitor agreed to by both the school and the federal government to report on the university’s progress every six months.
Shipman said the university has not admitted to violating civil rights laws as part of the settlement, although she said the school does not deny the “very serious and painful challenges our institution has faced with antisemitism.” Shipman noted that Columbia “retains control over its academic and operational decisions,” and the federal government “will not dictate what we teach, who teaches, or which students we admit.”
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” Shipman said. “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.”
The resolution agreement is a significant win for the Trump administration, which cracked down on the funding of Columbia and other elite universities to root out DEI and antisemitism, among other civil rights issues. Columbia is the first university to settle with the administration over allegations of antisemitism. Harvard has sued the Trump administration over cuts to funding, although the school is also in negotiations: “the expectation is that the Columbia settlement will provide a template for future deals,” The New York Times reported.
Shipman, who has been acting president since late March, said in an interview this week that she engaged in several months of intense negotiations with the administration and worked with the board of trustees, attorneys, and an academic leadership team to make the White House’s demands workable for the university.
“Ultimately, we had to make the decision that was the right decision for Columbia,” she said. “And I think we have made that decision. We weren’t reckless. In my view, it was important to slow things down and be extraordinarily deliberate, and that was actually quite hard to do.”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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