Surrender wasn’t enough to spare Columbia University from Donald Trump’s wrath.
The Department of Education issued a new threat against Columbia Wednesday, this time targeting its accreditation. The department alleged that the elite New York City school was “in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws” for failing to stamp out antisemitism on campus.
The DOE’s press release revealed that it had notified the organization responsible for ensuring that Columbia is in compliance with accreditation standards of the alleged violation.
“After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus,” said Linda McMahon, Trump’s education secretary. “This is not only immoral, but also unlawful. Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid.”
The move is an escalation in Trump’s war on top universities. Since March, the president’s administration has frozen $400 million in federal funding to Columbia. The university acquiesced to Trump’s list of demands that month—including a ban on face masks and a vow to harshly protest pro-Palestinian student protesters.
Losing accreditation would strip the university of state and federal financial funding, such as Pell Grants for low-income students. It could also inflict damage to Columbia’s reputation and make its undergraduates ineligible for many graduate programs.
Columbia’s accreditor, Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), requires that it follow relevant laws. The Education Department is alleging that the university has violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to “meaningfully protect Jewish students against severe and pervasive harassment on Columbia’s campus.”
While the Department of Education plays a role in setting accreditation standards, the organizations that determine whether a university is following them, like the MSCHE, operate independently.
The MSCHE told the Daily Beast in a statement that it had received the letter from the Education Department but declined to comment further. Columbia did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last week, Trump praised Columbia’s deference and said that the school had earned a reprieve from his attacks.
“You know, Columbia has been really—they were very, very bad, what they’ve done. They’re very antisemitic and lots of other things,” he said. “But they’re working with us on finding a solution, and, you know, they’re taken off that hot seat.”
In the months since Columbia gave into Trump’s demands, one of its peers, Harvard University, has fought a fierce legal battle to avoid following suit.
Harvard’s defiance has earned it an escalating series of punishments—$2.5 billion in frozen funds, a threat against its tax-exempt status, and a push to strip its ability enroll international students.
Despite suffering losses in court, Trump has declared that he is winning the war.
“But Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they’re getting their a-- kicked,” the president said.
Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, has urged other colleges and universities to fight back against Trump. “I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for,” he told NPR.
