Columbia University to pay $200M in settlement with Trump administration
NEW YORK -- Columbia University has agreed to pay $200 million over the next three years to resolve claims it discriminated against Jewish students -- an agreement the university said will restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants the Trump administration had terminated or paused earlier this year.
"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, and that reform was and is needed," the university said in a statement.
In addition, the school agreed to pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Columbia also agreed to submit to a federal monitor that will assure compliance with admissions and hiring practices and provide certain information about foreign students to immigration authorities.
The agreement puts an end to a months-long dispute with the Trump administration over federal funding.
In March, the Trump administration said it was canceling $400 million worth of grants and contracts to the university citing what it called "the school's continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
Later that month, the university agreed to nine demands from the Trump administration, including banning masks and stricter controls over its Middle East studies department.
The university said the agreement announced Wednesday builds on steps it previously took as part of negotiations with the administration and "builds on Columbia's broader commitment to combating antisemitism."
As a result of the agreement, the university said "a vast majority" of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March would be reinstated and that "Columbia's access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored." That includes grants terminated by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.
"It doesn't cross the red lines that we laid out. It protects our academic integrity," said Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman. "That was, of course, essential to us. And two, it does reset our relationship with the federal government in terms of research funding. $1.3 billion a year. Billions in future funding."
Earlier this week, the school said it was disciplining more than 70 students over two pro-Palestinian protests on the campus in the spring -- including a protest in May when students took over Butler Library.
The campus was roiled by protests last spring over the Israel-Hamas war. In late April 2024, pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall, leading to several arrests. The students involved were later expelled, suspended or had their degrees temporarily revoked.
The leader of the campus Jewish organization said, "...I am hopeful that today's agreement marks the beginning of real, sustained change. This is not the end of the process however it is a major step forward."
But many on the faculty are outraged.
"It seems like the university is being manipulated by an authoritarian government to promote its norms and values," said Acting Professors' Union President Professor Michael Thaddeus, Ph.D. "We see the whole process that led to the settlement not as a good faith negotiation, but as extortion on the government's part and capitulation on the university's part."
It's left some students feeling caught in the middle.
"A lot of us are just trying to make it through, keep our GPAs up," said junior Michael Karnes. "And, yeah, do the best that we can."
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