Columbia University settled its lawsuit with the Trump administration for $200 million on Wednesday, making it the first university to reach a negotiated settlement after the administration filed a spate of lawsuits against elite universities.
The agreement will restore much of the $400 million in grant funding the administration in early March froze after claiming the Ivy League university failed to protect its students from antisemitism during last summer’s protests regarding the war in Gaza.
“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,” Claire Shipman, the university’s acting president, said in a release. Shipman has served as acting president since the former president, Katrina Armstrong, suddenly resigned earlier this year.
In the 22-page settlement, Columbia also agreed to abide by the Trump administration’s orders banning the consideration of race in hiring and admissions and follow through on a series of initiatives on antisemitism and protests it made in March.
Trending
The university is slated to pay the $200 million in three settlements over three years. The agreement settles open civil rights investigations into the university and establishes “a jointly selected independent monitor who will assess the implementation of the resolution.”
The deal includes many of (and expands upon) the list of demands the Trump administration asked the university earlier this year to satisfy. Some terms agreed to included the maintenance of restrictions on protests, the appointment of public safety officers with arrest powers and transparency on foreign funding. The university will also abide by Trump’s policies on diversity, equity and inclusion and not use affirmative action in admissions.
Columbia also agreed to provide admissions data to the independent monitor.
The university’s settlement comes one day after it announced disciplinary action against nearly 80 students who participated in last year’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Meanwhile, Harvard University’s case against the White House is still working its way through federal courts; the elite university sued the Trump administration in late May over $2 billion in frozen research grants.
Author
