Columbia University has agreed to pay $200 million over the next three years to settle claims of discrimination against Jewish students, an agreement the university says will restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants that the Trump administration 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,” according to a statement released by the school.
In addition, the institution agreed to pay $21 million to settle federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission probes.
Columbia has also agreed to subject to a federal monitor who will ensure compliance with admissions and hiring policies, as well as share specific information about foreign students to immigration authorities.
In a social media message Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump praised the accord.
“Columbia has agreed to pay a penalty of $200 Million Dollars to the United States Government for violating Federal Law, in addition to over $20 Million to their Jewish employees who were unlawfully targeted and harassed,” tweeted President Trump.
“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,” Mr. Trump stated.
The accord resolves a months-long battle between Columbia and the Trump administration over government funds.
In March, the Trump administration announced that it will terminate $400 million in funds and contracts with the university, citing “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 a ban on masks and tougher oversight over its Middle Eastern studies department.
The university stated that the deal announced Wednesday expands on prior efforts taken 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 announced that “a vast majority” of the federal awards that were discontinued or suspended in March will be reinstated, and that “Columbia’s access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored.” This contains grants that were terminated by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Earlier this week, the school announced that it will discipline more than 70 students for two pro-Palestinian protests on campus in the spring, including one in May when protesters took over Butler Library.
Last spring, protests over Israel’s war with Hamas erupted on campus. In late April 2024, pro-Palestinian demonstrators besieged themselves inside Hamilton Hall, resulting in multiple arrests. Students implicated were eventually expelled, suspended, or had their degrees temporarily revoked.
