Trump admin ends $400 million in contracts to Columbia as a 'notice' to schools failing to protect Jewish students
The Trump administration announced that is terminating $400 million to Columbia University for its insufficient response to campus anti-Semitism.
'This is only the beginning,' Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell stated in regard to the administration's efforts to end discrimination against Jewish students.
The Trump administration is taking major steps to crack down on universities that have failed to defend Jewish students stemming from campus activism after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.
In a joint press release published on Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, Department of Justice and U.S. General Services Administration announced it would be terminating $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to its “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
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The move comes after President Trump’s creation of the federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism in January. Nearly one month later, the Office of Public Affairs announced the task force would be investigating 10 universities for anti-Semitic incidents, including those at Columbia.
In a statement on Friday concerning the cancellation of federal contracts at Columbia, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell said that the move was “only the beginning” of the task force’s work to stop anti-Semitism on college campuses.
“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism,” he noted. “This is only the beginning.”
On Monday, the task force notified Columbia that it would be performing a “comprehensive review” of the Ivy League institution’s federal contracts as it was under investigation for possibly violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“Anti-Semitism – like racism – is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement on Monday.
“In recent years, the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture have transformed our great universities into greenhouses for this deadly and virulent pestilence,” he continued. “Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect, based on speech freedom and open debate.”
The task force’s decision to revoke federal grants to Columbia is intended to serve as a “notice” for schools across the nation that the administration will “use all the tools at its disposal to protect Jewish students.”
”Columbia University, through their continued and shameful inaction to stop radical protestors from taking over buildings on campus and lack of response to the safety issues for Jewish students, and for that matter - all students - are not upholding the ideals of this Administration or the American people,” Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum said.
”Columbia cannot expect to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayer dollars if they will not fulfill their civil rights responsibilities to protect Jewish students from harassment and anti-Semitism,” he added.
