Policy Changes and Academic Oversight
has agreed to implement a series of policy changes, including banning face masks on campus and placing its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department under new leadership, to negotiate the restoration of $400 million in federal funding.
The university will conduct an immediate review of its regional studies programs and revamp its disciplinary processes, responding to demands from the Trump administration amid allegations of antisemitism on campus.
Response and Criticism
The agreement has sparked criticism from within the university, with a student-led group and members of the history department opposing the administration's interference and the potential impact on academic freedom.
Freedom of speech advocates and historians have decried Columbia's compliance with the Trump's administration demands as an unprecedented intrusion on university rights, raising concerns about the effect on intellectual diversity and historical scholarship.