Key points
- Most of suspended federal funds will be restored as part of deal: Columbia
- Trump administration had suspended funds in March
- Trump has attempted to use leverage of federal funds with other universities as well
ISLAMABAD: Columbia University said on Wednesday it will pay over $200 million to the US government in a settlement with President Donald Trump’s administration to resolve federal probes and have most of its suspended federal funding restored.
Trump has targeted several universities since returning to office in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled college campuses last year.
According to Reuters, he welcomed the agreement between his administration and Columbia in a post on social media late on Wednesday.
“Columbia University has reached an agreement with the United States government to resolve multiple federal agency investigations into alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws,” a statement said, adding that the $200 million would be paid over three years.
The university will also pay $21 million to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it said.
“Under today’s agreement, a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025 will be reinstated and Columbia’s access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored,” the statement said.
Financial pressure
The promise of the federal funding spigot reopening offers relief for the university, which was under growing financial pressure, despite a comfortable endowment and a reputation it can bank on.
According to AFP, the agreement also represents a victory for Trump, who has repeatedly claimed elite universities brainwash students against his nationalist ideas with left-wing bias.
Thanking Columbia for “agreeing to do what is right,” Trump warned in a social media post that “numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust… are upcoming.”
The centuries-old Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is also in a fight with the administration over Trump’s threats to rip away federal funding, and Wednesday’s carefully worded agreement — in which Columbia admitted no wrongdoing — could offer a framework for future deals.
“Important step forward”
“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” Columbia’s acting president Claire Shipman said.
“The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.
“Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.”
Disciplinary actions
Under the settlement, Columbia will maintain a security force to prevent demonstrations in academic spaces, such as those that rocked the campus last year when pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with law enforcement and occupied university buildings.
The school also agreed to “promptly provide” federal authorities with any requested information on “disciplinary actions involving student visa-holders resulting in expulsions or suspensions, and arrest records that Columbia is aware of for criminal activity, including trespass or other violation of law.”
Columbia found itself at the centre of a firestorm last year over claims of anti-Semitism triggered by campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Some Jewish students claimed they were intimidated and that authorities did not act to protect them.
The school announced a wave of various student punishments on Tuesday, including expulsions and degree revocations, against nearly 80 students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement that has called on the university to divest from Israel.
“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community,” Columbia said in a statement about student protests on its campus.
“Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences.”
While the university appears to be acquiescing to the Trump administration’s demands to quash student protest, one of the most prominent leaders of the US pro-Palestinian campus protests is still raising his voice.
“First step towards accountability”
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate active in campus demonstrations, has sued the Trump administration for $20 million over his arrest and detention by immigration agents.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the United States who is married to a US citizen, missed the birth of his son while being held in a federal immigration detention centre in Louisiana.
He called the lawsuit a “first step towards accountability.”
