The latest cancelation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia College by the Trump administration’s Joint Activity Drive to Fight Antisemitism was seen as a serious wake-up name to the nation’s universities.
In its press launch, the duty power introduced that the “decisive action” is “a notice to every school and university that receives federal dollars.”
Leo Terrell, chief of the Federal Activity Drive to Fight Antisemitism and senior counsel to the assistant legal professional common for civil rights, instructed Fox Information Digital that Columbia was an preliminary goal for funding cuts as a result of the varsity has been “in my opinion, the worst of the worst when it comes to allowing this type of conduct to take place and to continue.”
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, government director of the Orthodox Union, instructed Fox Information Digital that “the more dramatic action that the [Trump] administration seems ready to take … seems to be the necessary approach for something as urgent as what we have been facing.” Hauer added that his group has “a lot of hope.”
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Protesters exhibit close to Columbia College in New York Metropolis on Feb. 2, 2024. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Photos)
Hauer added that latest protests at Columbia College and Barnard Faculty “reminded us how alive the issue [of campus antisemitism] is.”
Terrell mentioned President Donald Trump’s government order directing elevated efforts to struggle antisemitism “set the tone for every single agency” concerned within the activity power, which incorporates the Departments of Justice, Training, Well being and Human Providers, Homeland Safety and State, along with the U.S. Basic Providers Administration and the FBI. Terrell mentioned newly confirmed Secretary of Training Linda McMahon “is involved in this extensively, per the directive from [U.S. Attorney General] Pam Bondi.”
He says consultants inside his activity power will likely be assessing faculties primarily based on about 9 standards to find out whether or not they’re adequately defending Jewish college students. Along with searching for proof of hate crimes and inspecting faculties’ tax-exempt standing, Terrell mentioned the duty power will seek for violations of Title VI and Title VII within the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Title VI protects Individuals who have interaction in applications that obtain federal funds from discrimination primarily based upon race, colour and nationwide origin. Former President Joe Biden’s administration used Title VI when the Division of Training’s Workplace for Civil Rights examined hostile antisemitic environments on Okay-12 and faculty campuses. Title VII prevents federal employment discrimination on the idea of race, faith, intercourse or colour.
The duty power’s transfer at Columbia follows weeks of protests on the college and affiliated Barnard Faculty. In January, college students stormed a Columbia classroom and “allegedly threw around [fliers] filled with hateful speech.” The next month, greater than 50 protesters took over a constructing at Barnard Faculty and had been mentioned to have assaulted an worker.
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Leo Terrell (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura)
Throughout a March 5 protest on Barnard’s campus, protesters had been pictured passing out pamphlets from the “Hamas media office,” along with footage of former Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah and stickers that includes former chair of the Hamas terror group Yahya Sinwar, based on the Instances of Israel. In a press launch, Columbia confirmed that 4 of its college students had been arrested in the course of the Barnard “disruption.” The scholars had been subsequently “suspended and restricted from campus.”
The scenario at Columbia has grown extra advanced after former scholar Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for allegedly advocating for Hamas. Terrell mentioned Khalil’s arrest was not carried out on the behest of the duty power however defined that “all of this is coming out of the Trump executive order.”
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The NYPD cleared pro-Palestinian demonstrators from Barnard Faculty after a gaggle of scholar protesters occupied Milstein Library on March 5, 2025. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu through Getty Photos)
A Columbia consultant didn’t reply to questions from Fox Information Digital in regards to the cancellation of its grants, its posture towards ICE on campus or whether or not it plans to proceed using anti-Israel professors who’re accused of spreading antisemitic views.
Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, launched an announcement on March 7 through which she mentioned “Columbia is taking the government’s action very seriously.” Armstrong sought to “assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns. To that end, Columbia can, and will, continue to take serious action toward combatting antisemitism on our campus. This is our number one priority.”
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Relating to demonstrating their efficient efforts to fight antisemitism, Terrell mentioned faculties should “earn trust.” Citing for example “the little feeble action” Columbia has taken in response to funding cuts, Terrell requested, “Is it the money driving them or their concern for Jewish-American students?”
Terrell additionally mentioned there will likely be no particular rewards for faculties which have managed antisemitism with out federal involvement.
“They have a fundamental right to protect Jewish Americans and Jewish students,” he mentioned.
