Columbia University makes policy changes while under threat from Trump administration

The Associated Press

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 7:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 28 minutes ago

Under menace from the Trump administration, Columbia University agreed to instrumentality a big of argumentation changes Friday, including overhauling its rules for protests and conducting an contiguous reappraisal of its Middle Eastern studies department.

The changes, elaborate successful a missive sent by the New York City university's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, came 1 week aft the Trump medication ordered the Ivy League schoolhouse to enact those and different reforms oregon suffer each national funding, an ultimatum wide criticized successful academia arsenic an onslaught connected world freedom.

In her letter, Armstrong said the assemblage would instantly name a elder vice provost to behaviour a thorough reappraisal of the portfolio of its determination studies programs, "starting instantly with the Middle East."

Columbia volition besides revamp its long-standing disciplinary process and barroom protests wrong world buildings. Students volition not beryllium permitted to deterioration look masks connected field "for the purposes of concealing one's identity." An objection would beryllium made for radical wearing them for wellness reasons.

In an effort to grow "intellectual diversity" wrong the university, Columbia volition besides name caller module members to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies department. It volition besides follow a caller explanation of antisemitism and grow programming successful its Tel Aviv Center, a probe hub based successful Israel.

The argumentation changes were mostly successful enactment with demands made connected the assemblage by the Trump administration, which pulled $400 cardinal US successful probe grants and different national funding, and had threatened to chopped more, implicit the university's handling of protests against Israel's subject run successful Gaza.

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The White House has labelled the protests antisemitic, a statement rejected by those who participated successful the student-led demonstrations.

A connection seeking remark was near with a spokesperson for the Education Department.

As a "precondition" for restoring funding, national officials demanded that the assemblage to spot its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies section nether "academic receivership for a minimum of 5 years."

They besides told the assemblage to prohibition masks connected campus, follow a caller explanation of antisemitism, abolish its existent process for disciplining students and present a program to "reform undergraduate admissions, planetary recruiting and postgraduate admissions practices."

Historians had described the bid arsenic an unprecedented intrusion connected assemblage rights agelong treated by the U.S. Supreme Court arsenic an hold of the First Amendment.

On Friday, state of code advocates instantly decried Columbia's determination to acquiesce.

"A bittersweet time for Columbia and for our democracy," Jameel Jaffer, the manager of Knight First Amendment Institute astatine Columbia University, said successful a societal media post.