Amid $400 million funding threat, Columbia University expels students over pro-Palestine protests | World News

This wave of disciplinary measures is only one part of Columbia’s broader capitulation to a list of demands from the Trump administration, which in March froze hundreds of millions in funding. That move made Columbia the first university to face financial consequences under Trump’s sweeping executive order aimed at combating antisemitism on college campuses. Since then, at least 60 other institutions have reportedly been warned of similar action.

Timeline of escalation

The university had become a lightning rod for campus trouble in 2024, following Israel’s war in Gaza which began in October 2023. Student protests intensified in the spring when the coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) demanded the university cut its financial ties to Israel and publicly call for a ceasefire.

After administrators missed a deadline to engage in divestment talks, protesters, some of them unaffiliated with the university, occupied Columbia’s historic Hamilton Hall in April. The university responded by calling in the NYPD. More than 110 people were arrested.

Now, months later, Columbia appears to be disciplining their students. According to internal documents shared with the Trump administration, a new university judicial board, overseen by the provost’s office, has been tasked with enacting rigorous and consistent disciplinary actions.

A new Columbia University?

But the changes go far beyond punishing protesters. In an internal letter obtained by CNN and addressed to faculty and students, Columbia’s board of trustees endorsed an aggressive overhaul of campus policy and culture from how protests are policed to the way Middle East studies are taught.

Among the most controversial reforms:

• Oversight of the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department has been shifted away from faculty to a university-appointed official, drawing backlash from academic freedom advocates.
• New protest regulations prohibit the use of face coverings and unpermitted encampments on university property.
• Columbia adopted a new definition of antisemitism crafted by its Antisemitism Taskforce, which identifies opposition to national movement with antisemitism. Critics say this could blur the lines between hate speech and legitimate political dissent.
• The university has ceased all engagement with CUAD and warned other activist groups that similar sanctions could apply.
• The university will now hold student organisations liable for members’ actions, a policy that many believe could pause future activism.

These moves appear to directly respond to a list of nine demands issued by the Trump administration earlier this year. Trump, now in his second term, has made cracking down on campus antisemitism a foundation of his higher education policy. A 2025 executive order called on universities to monitor and report international students’ political activity and enforce discipline for campus unrest including the revocation of student visas.

It remains unclear whether Columbia’s sweeping response will lead to the restoration of the $400 million in federal funding. “The university has submitted its full compliance report… and we await the administration’s decision” says a Columbia spokesperson.

Civil liberties groups and free speech advocates have expressed alarm at the university’s concessions. “This is the most significant federal intervention into campus speech in modern American history. Columbia is setting a precedent that other universities may now be forced to follow,” said an attorney with the Academic Freedom Defense Fund, according to The Guardian reports.

“We take seriously the concerns of antisemitism, harassment, and discrimination. These reforms reflect our commitment to fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment, ” trustees wrote in their letter.