Columbia University announced a historic deal with the Trump administration on Wednesday, agreeing to pay a $200 million fine, as well as $21 million to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to settle antisemitism allegations in exchange for the return of massive amounts of federal funding.
While the $200 million is an eye-catching amount, senior Trump administration officials said on a Thursday press call that the $21 million EEOC settlement should not be “overshadowed.”
According to senior administration officials, the EEOC settlement is “the largest EEOC settlement for victims of antisemitism ever, as well as the largest EEOC settlement for workers of any religion or faith.”
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“That type of relief for these individuals is historic — dealing with the harassment, discrimination, and hatred that they had to endure as employees,” a senior administration official told reporters.
The EEOC settlement is also “the largest EEOC public settlement in almost 20 years for any form of discrimination or harassment,” officials noted.
Administration officials said the $21 million will go into a settlement fund and will be distributed to Columbia University Jewish faculty and staff, as well as the janitors who were allegedly held hostage in April when protesters took over Hamilton Hall.
The $200 million fine paid over three years, per the resolution agreement, will go the the U.S. Treasury, officials said.
READ MORE: Columbia University Agrees to Pay $200M Fine, Ditch DEI in Settlement with Trump Administration
Columbia University reached an agreement with the Trump administration after months of intense negotiations, and pledged to ditch DEI practices and uphold its pledges to combat antisemitism on campus 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 in March, 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.
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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.
“Not only does Columbia agree that they are no longer going to engage in racial discrimination in hiring admissions or their programming, but they’re going provide the data necessary to ensure that that is the case,” a senior administration official said. “…This really isn’t about some sort of invasive exam, but this is about showing the public that Columbia is committed to doing the right thing.”
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, after sparking protests, riots, and encampments on other campuses across the country following the horrific Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists.
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. Administration officials echoed that sentiment on Thursday, saying the Columbia deal is a “roadmap for other institutions.”
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“[W]e believe [the deal] will change the course of higher education to actually be dedicated to education and not instilling racial hierarchies and discrimination,” an official said, adding that “the transparency that will result in meritocracy at universities…is absolutely critical” to improving the country and ending the practice of treating people on the basis of race.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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