Trump slashes $400 million from Columbia University over antisemitism concerns

The Trump administration announced a dramatic funding cut on Friday, saying it would cut federal grants and contracts worth $400 million from Columbia University for "inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."

The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism warned that the funding cuts only represent the first round of action, and that more cuts could be made in the future. The university located in New York City currently has $5 billion in federal grants that are under review by the four agencies that make up the task force: the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and the U.S. General Services Administration.

Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, had warned Columbia University on Monday the school's contracts and grants with the government were under review.

“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding," McMahon said in Friday's announcement. "For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus."

According to the task force's press release, HHS and ED will issue stop-work orders that serve to immediately freeze Columbia's access to the earmarked funds.

“We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding," a university spokesperson said to NBC News.

"We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff.”

It is not clear which research, projects or activities will be affected at Columbia, which operates a medical center among many other functions. The university said it was reviewing the announcement. An inquiry was sent to the federal Education Department, which issued Friday's announcement along with the Health and Justice departments and the General Services Administration.

Columbia has become the first target in President Donald Trump’s campaign to cut federal money to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

The university was at the forefront of U.S. campus protests over the war last spring. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment in April and inspired a wave of similar protests. Protesters at Columbia went on to seize a campus building, resulting in dozens of arrests when police cleared the building.

In recent days, a much smaller contingent of demonstrators have staged brief occupations of buildings at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College to protest the expulsion of two students accused of disrupting an Israeli history class. Several students were arrested following an hourslong takeover of a building Wednesday.

Many people involved in the protests said there's nothing antisemitic about criticizing Israel over its actions in Gaza or expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

Columbia has acknowledged concerns about antisemitism: A university task force said last summer that Jews and Israelis at the school were ostracized from student groups, humiliated in classrooms and subjected to verbal abuse amid the spring demonstrations.

Some students, and an attorney advising them, see its new disciplinary crackdown as an effort to mollify the government by suppressing pro-Palestinian speech.

Columbia was one of five colleges that has come under new federal antisemitism investigations, and it’s one of 10 being visited by a task force in response to allegations that the colleges have failed to protect Jewish students.