Columbia University has announced a series of new policies in the wake of President Trump’s revocation of $400 million in federal funding due to campus protests.
These changes include a review of admissions policies, streamlining harassment reporting, tightening rules concerning protest locations, prohibiting masks at protests, hiring 36 additional campus police officers with new arrest powers, and granting the provost’s office greater authority to handle disciplinary actions against students involved in protests.
The university is also reassessing its curriculum, beginning with courses related to the Middle East.
The previous academic year saw widespread campus unrest, featuring pro-Palestinian protests and encampments, counter-protests, building occupations, arrests, and scaled-back graduation ceremonies. Columbia became the epicenter of these nationwide demonstrations.
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“We have worked diligently to address the legitimate concerns raised both internally and externally within our Columbia community, including by our regulators, regarding the discrimination, harassment, and antisemitic acts our Jewish community has faced following October 7, 2023,” reads the statement from the office of the university’s interim president, Dr. Katrina Armstrong.
Under the new regulations, all individuals participating in protests or demonstrations must, upon request, present their university ID and are prohibited from wearing face coverings intended to “conceal one’s identity,” according to the document.
The university stated that it will expand intellectual diversity among faculty to ensure fairness in Middle East studies and will commit to “institutional neutrality” university-wide.
The Trump administration withdrew $400 million from Columbia University earlier in March, canceling grants and contracts due to what the government described as the Ivy League institution’s failure to suppress antisemitism on campus.
Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, described the move as an unconstitutional government effort “to coerce colleges and universities into censoring student speech and advocacy that isn’t MAGA-approved, such as criticizing Israel or supporting Palestinian rights.”
Columbia became the initial target in President Donald Trump’s campaign to cut federal funding to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas conflict that began in October 2023.
In the second week of his second term, Trump signed an executive order promising to “combat antisemitism” on college campuses, including revoking visas and directing universities to “monitor” and “report” on the activities of international students and staff.
On March 8, the Trump administration directed immigration officers to arrest Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and prominent Palestinian activist who played a key role in protests against the Israel-Hamas conflict on campus last year.
