Columbia University reaches $200 million settlement with US federal government

Columbia University has agreed to pay the US government $200 million in a settlement over what the Trump administration called a wave of anti-Semitism on campus and a “violation of federal law”.

The embattled university has faced pressure from the administration over protests at its New York campus in 2023, at the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, and 2024. An encampment on the university’s main lawn for almost two weeks drew international attention.

Columbia will pay the settlement over three years. In exchange, the university said in a statement, the federal government will unlock “billions in current and future grants”.

It was one of the first universities targeted by the administration over alleged anti-Semitism on campus amid protests against the Israel-Gaza war. In March, the Trump administration froze funding to several high-profile universities.

Columbia said in its statement that the settlement codifies a set of reforms it announced in March, including a review of several of its Middle East studies programmes and identification of students who participate in protests on campus.

Only one month after taking office for his second term as president, Donald Trump led a charge against Columbia, and eventually several other Ivy League and top-tier American universities, to block government grants on the pretext that it was in breach of laws against discrimination applicable to universities that receive federal funding.

Mr Trump called the settlement a “penalty”, on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, and said the school had been “violating federal law”.

He also said Columbia will pay “over $20 million to their Jewish employees who were unlawfully targeted and harassed”.

Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing, but “the institution’s leaders have recognised, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed”, the university said in its statement.

Last week, Columbia announced it will adopt a controversial definition of anti-Semitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that has also been adopted by Harvard and NYU.

The “working definition” is accompanied by various examples of anti-Semitism, including “applying double standards” to the conduct of the state of Israel or “claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour”.

Student protesters and members of the Arab and Muslim communities on campus have alleged discrimination, harassment and doxxing by the university or its affiliates based on their political views and personal backgrounds.

This week, the Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition, a collective of student groups engaged in pro-Palestine actions, filed a lawsuit against the university alleging a violation of due process and “overstepping their jurisdiction to censor pro-Palestinian speech”.

The university said in its statement that the agreement with the federal government “preserves Columbia’s autonomy and authority”. Its response to the threats from the Trump administration over several months has drawn a backlash and claims of capitulation.

Acting president Claire Shipman, the third head of the university since 2023, said in a message to the Columbia community on Wednesday that the lack of federal funding to the school “would jeopardise [its] status as a world-leading research institution”.

“Following the law, attempting to resolve a complaint, is not capitulation,” Shipman said in a video statement released by the university in June. She had said Columbia would move to restore its government funding “if possible”.

By contrast, fellow Ivy League university Harvard took the US government to court in proceedings that began this week.

On Wednesday, the State Department launched an investigation into whether Harvard should remain eligible to sponsor international student visas.

“Visa sponsorship is a privilege, and sponsors whose conduct tarnishes our nation’s interests will lose that privilege,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X.