Maybe it was the outrage at Barnard or maybe it was already in the works: Trump administration yanks $400M in grants, contracts from Columbia University over antisemitism on campus.
A federal antisemitism task force — convened by President Trump and including the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education as well as the General Services Administration (GSA) — announced the barring of US taxpayers’ money from funding the school.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses — only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”
Hallelujah! $400 million is a serious penalty, even for an institution with an endowment of nearly $15 billion. And being publicly called out as an anti-Semitic university should cause some embarrassment, although, on today’s Left, it is hard to say.
It will be interesting to see who is next, and whether other schools start taking public safety seriously.
In related news, the State Department has revoked the visa of a foreign student (presumably from an Islamic country) for participating in pro-Hamas disorderly conduct. Again, one hopes, the first of many.
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