Just days after a student group out of Columbia University announced the school had suspended and expelled some students over pro-Palestine protests, the university has announced a multi-million dollar settlement with the Trump administration. The school will pay $220 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit.
What was the basis of the lawsuit?
Columbia University was one of many across the country where students held protests over the Israel-Hamas War. At one point, pro-Palestinian protesters even barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall.
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Several students were arrested and some were later expelled, suspended or had their degrees temporarily revoked.
Columbia was one of 60 colleges and universities sent letters by the Department of Education in March saying they were under investigation over accusations of antisemitism.
Some Jewish students and faculty at these schools raised concerns protesters crossed the line into antisemitism, while critics have said they feel their anti-Israel sentiment is being conflated for antisemitism.
What does the new settlement accomplish?
The Trump administration in March gave Columbia an ultimatum over “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The options were to meet its demands, or the administration would cancel $400 million in grants and contracts.
The university did agree to those demands, which included banning masks and stricter controls over its Middle East studies department, but the funding had not yet been restored. The school now says “a vast majority” of the federal grants taken away in March will be reinstated.
The University said in a statement the settlement “builds on Columbia’s broader commitment to combating antisemitism.”
“While Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement, the institution’s leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents,” Acting University President Claire Shipman said in a statement.
The school will pay a $200 million settlement to the federal government over a three-year period and another $21 million to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
How is the Trump administration reacting to the settlement?
On his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump called the settlement “historic,” saying Jewish employees were unlawfully targeted and harassed.
“Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming,” Trump said.
In a post on X, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the settlement marks “a seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”
