US President Donald Trump’s administration has cancelled grants and contracts totalling US$400 million to Columbia University in New York due to “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students”, the General Services Administration said on Friday.
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The US government said the cancelled funds would come out of US$5 billion in grants committed to Columbia, the GSA said in a joint statement with the US Department of Justice, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Columbia has been at the centre of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to US support for Israel due to the civilian deaths and humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s assault on Gaza.
There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests. Columbia has previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.
“Cancelling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the federal government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff,” said Leo Terrell, who leads the Justice Department’s antisemitism task force.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment on their campuses – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the joint statement.