Education Secretary Says Columbia University on Track to Unfreeze $400 Million in Federal Funds

McMahon says the school’s interim president acknowledged that ’this was her responsibility to make sure that children on her campus were safe.’

Columbia University in Manhattan in New York City, on May 10, 2021. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on March 23 that Columbia University is heading in the right direction to recovering its federal funding after the school agreed to enact several policy changes that the Trump administration ordered.

In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” on March 23, McMahon said she had “great conversations” with the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong.

“She said she knew that this was her responsibility to make sure that children on her campus were safe,” McMahon said. “She wanted to make sure there was no discrimination of any kind. She wanted to address any systemic issues that were identified relative to the anti-Semitism on campus.”

The Trump administration revoked $400 million in research grants and other funding from Columbia University earlier this month, citing how the school handled pro-Palestinian protests that criticized Israel’s military response to Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Federal officials demanded nine individual changes to Columbia’s academic and security policies in order to return the funds and billions more in future grants.

On March 21, Armstrong announced that Columbia University would deploy new supervision for its Middle East studies department while overhauling its protest and student discipline rules. According to an outline posted on the school’s website, Columbia also agreed to implement a new definition of anti-Semitism and increase “intellectual diversity” by hiring more at its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.

Other changes include a ban on student masks unless for health or religious purposes, a revised recruitment and admissions process, and strict administrative oversight from a new senior vice provost tasked with monitoring certain academic majors.

Armstrong also said the school’s judicial board for disciplining students will consist of administrators and faculty members moving forward. Columbia will increase its public safety staff to better address disruptive situations, she said.

“We have worked hard to address the legitimate concerns raised both from within and without our Columbia community, including by our regulators, with respect to the discrimination, harassment, and antisemitic acts our Jewish community has faced in the wake of October 7, 2023,” a policy memo reads.

Some university faculty and free speech groups condemned Armstrong’s decision and accused the school of giving in to government interference in academic freedom.

Bash asked McMahon if Columbia University had done enough to restore its funding.

“We are on the right track now to make sure the final negotiations to unfreeze that money will be in place,” she said.

Aaron Gifford and The Associated Press contributed to this report.