‘GUN TO THE HEAD’: AFT, AAUP sue Trump admin over $400M Columbia freeze
The American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) are suing the Trump administration over its $400 million funding freeze at Columbia University.
The AAUP organized an “emergency vigil” Monday where more than 100 demonstrators protested Columbia's decision to agree to the Trump administration’s proposed policies to combat anti-Semitism.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is teaming up with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to sue the Trump administration over its $400 million funding freeze at Columbia University.
The lawsuit describes the funding cuts as “an existential ‘gun to the head.’”
The plaintiffs, who represent Columbia faculty members, argue that the Trump administration is using “financial pressure” to “punish protesters based on their viewpoint, regulate the admissions process, and alter the ideological makeup of faculty.”
The lawsuit describes the funding cuts as having a “chilling effect” that has created a “pervasive climate of fear and self-censorship” on university campuses.
The teachers union and professors association are calling on the court to require the Trump administration “to immediately reinstate or restore all grants and contracts to Columbia University…that were unlawfully terminated, canceled, or paused.”
The 87-page lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against the Department of Justice, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and National Institutes of Health.
Prior to filing the lawsuit, the AAUP organized an “emergency vigil” Monday where more than 100 demonstrators, including Columbia professors, protested Columbia’s decision to agree to the Trump administration’s proposed policies to combat anti-Semitism.
In hopes to restore over $400 million in frozen funds, Columbia agreed to certain measures laid out by the Trump administration, including an increased security presence on campus, banning face masks, and adopting a formal definition of anti-Semitism.
The lawsuit alleges that these measures violate the First Amendment.
Campus Reform reported on Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s recent statement that Columbia must agree to the measures initially demanded by President Trump in order for the federal funding freeze to be rescinded.
Despite agreeing to the Trump administration’s policy changes, Columbia’s interim president Katrina Armstrong told faculty in a private meeting that the mask ban would not be enforced, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“[Columbia has] to abide and comply with the terms that we have set down and talked with them and they’ve agreed to… and that was kind of the basis to get them to the real first step of total negotiations to restore the funding,” McMahon said, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon.
Campus Reform has previously covered controversies around the AFT and the AAUP, which have been accused of sacrificing academic integrity in the service of political interests.
Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, defended pro-Hamas protesters on college campuses and claimed they were “peacefully demonstrating” despite disruptive behavior like vandalism.
The AAUP previously faced criticism for its alleged anti-Israel bias. The organization, for example, did an about-face, starting to support academic boycotts after shunning such a measure for a long time, seemingly to promote faculty members joining such boycott movements against Israel.
The AAUP also defended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education, claiming that DEI statements “can be a valuable component in the efforts to recruit, hire, and retain a diverse faculty with a breadth of skills needed for excellence in teaching, research, and service.”
As the AAUP defended anti-Israel protests and DEI, a university leader called the association out.
Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier criticized the “[p]oliticization of scholarly associations” and denounced the AAUP’s “disastrous decision” to reverse its stance against academic boycotts.
Campus Reform has contacted American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
