Trump’s settlement with Columbia could become a model for his campaign to reshape higher education

Students sit on the front steps of Low Memorial Library on the Columbia University campus in New York City, Feb. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s milestone settlement with Columbia promises to bring stability to a university in crisis. It also delivers a crucial win to U.S. President Donald Trump in his campaign to reshape higher education.

And at colleges around the country, the deal clarifies the stakes for anyone weighing whether to fight the administration’s demands or concede.

Columbia agreed Wednesday to pay more than US$220 million to the federal government to restore federal research money that was cancelled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus. That decision offers a contrast to the path taken by Harvard University, which has lost billions of dollars in government funding as its legal battle escalates with no end in sight.

Yet the Columbia deal also raises questions about university independence as the school submits to closer federal oversight.

No sooner had Trump announced the deal than he sent a warning: Numerous other universities, he said, “are upcoming.”

The deal is the first to settle a federal antisemitism investigation since Trump returned to office. It’s also the first agreement with a university touching on so many elements of the president’s agenda, from admissions and campus protests to women’s sports and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Columbia agreed to some provisions similar to those that Harvard rejected and called a dangerous precedent. The settlement requires the hiring of new faculty in Jewish studies and a review of academics to ensure “balance.” Columbia will be placed under the watch of an independent monitor and ordered to disclose hiring, admission and discipline data to be audited for compliance.

In what Columbia described as a victory for university autonomy, the agreement includes a clause saying the government has no authority to dictate hiring, admissions decisions or the content of academic speech. Acting University President Claire Shipman said it was “carefully crafted to protect the values that define us” while restoring the university’s federal research funding.

Where some see pragmatism, others see capitulation

Some at Columbia called it the best feasible outcome. Some called it capitulation. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a Columbia graduate whose district includes the Manhattan campus, called it a “cowardly” agreement.

Columbia has effectively waved “the white flag of surrender in its battle at the heart of the Trump Administration’s war on higher education and academic freedom,” Nadler said.

Columbia had been threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support, including more than $400 million in research grants cancelled earlier this year.

David Pozen, a law professor at Columbia, said the settlement raises legal questions about Trump’s strategy of regulation by dealmaking. Instead of applying a single standard across all of higher education, Pozen said, Trump is relying on one-off deals with individual universities as a condition to regain federal funding.

“In short, the agreement gives legal form to an extortion scheme,” he said.

The American Council on Education, which represents hundreds of university presidents, exhorted the administration to “return to following the rule of law.”

“This cannot be a template for the government’s approach to American higher education,” said Ted Mitchell, the group’s president. “Columbia was put in an untenable position by the outrageous actions of the executive branch of the government.”

Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary and former president of Harvard, called the settlement an “excellent template” for agreements with Harvard and other universities. He said it preserves Columbia’s independence while addressing antisemitism and renewing a focus on merit.

“This may be the best day higher education has had in the last year,” Summers wrote on the social media platform X.

Dozens of colleges are facing federal investigations

With the deal, Trump has new momentum in his expanding campaign to bring the nation’s universities in line with his vision. Dozens of campuses are under federal investigation for allegations related to antisemitism, DEI and transgender athletes in women’s sports. Trump has saved his strongest rebuke for elite private universities, yet his administration has also recently turned attention to big public universities including George Mason University.

Among Trump’s backers, the Columbia agreement is seen as a first step to counteract the liberal bias they say has permeated college campuses.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon called Columbia’s reforms a roadmap for universities looking to regain public trust. “I believe they will ripple across the higher education sector and change the course of campus culture for years to come,” McMahon said in a statement.

The settlement follows smaller wins for the administration, including a recent deal with the University of Pennsylvania over transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Penn agreed to modify school records held by Thomas and to apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by Thomas’ participation.

Just days earlier, the president of the University of Virginia agreed to resign amid a Justice Department investigation over DEI policies.

Many university presidents have rallied behind Harvard in its fight against the Trump administration, seeing their own independence jeopardized by the government’s sanctions against the Ivy League school. Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, is often seen as a bellwether for other institutions, and some regard it as the best hope to repel the Trump administration’s pressure campaign.

Now even more rides on Harvard’s case. Earlier this month, Trump said a deal with Harvard appeared imminent, only to lash out at the university this week following a court hearing in one of Harvard’s legal battles.

“A big part of it is going to be how much Harvard gets in the future,” Trump told reporters this week. “And they’re not going to get very much.”

Even before Trump took office, more universities had been pulling back on DEI and taking other steps to backtrack on what some see as a leftward political drift. Yet if the Columbia agreement becomes a model, it could force an even deeper reckoning.

The agreement requires full compliance with the administration’s interpretation of Title IX, the federal law barring sex discrimination in education. Trump officials have used the law to force the removal of transgender athletes from women’s sports. The deal also requires regular reports to ensure Columbia does not “promote unlawful DEI goals.”

On admissions, the settlement pushes Columbia to limit the consideration of race even beyond the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision ending affirmative action. That decision left open the possibility that universities could consider an applicant’s discussion of how their race affected their life, including in college application essays. The Columbia deal appears to bar such considerations.

It also orders the school to take steps to “decrease financial independence” on international students. Columbia has one of the largest international student populations in the nation, making up about 40% of its enrollment.

How much Columbia ceded in exchange may not be clear for years. There’s also no guarantee that the school is fully in the clear -- the agreement leaves open the possibility of future “compliance reviews, investigations, defunding or litigation” by the government.

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Collin Binkley, The Associated Press