After months of review, Columbia University has agreed to a $100 million settlement with the federal government to deal with how Pro-Palestinian student protests and campus anti-Semitism.
The long-standing deal was announced by acting president Claire Shipman on Wednesday night.
“After a period of ongoing federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty, the agreement marks an important step forward,” Shipman said. “This settlement is intended to protect the values that define our values and allow our fundamental research partnership with the federal government to return to the right track. Importantly, it protects our independence, critical conditions for academic excellence and academic exploration, and work that is crucial to the public interest.”
Columbia will pay another $21 million to resolve the investigation by the U.S. Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity. The university also agreed to codification of the reforms announced in March, which included a major overhaul of the disciplinary process and the appointment of a new senior vice provost to oversee academic programs focused on the Middle East, among other changes.
The university will pay settlement within three years.
The settlement aims to get the Trump administration to terminate months of review and restore hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen federal research funding. According to the university statement, opportunities to receive “billions of current and future grants” will also be restored.
Board members highlighted the university’s commitment to academic freedom in a statement.
“Today’s agreement with the federal government affirms Colombia’s strong commitment to academic freedom, freedom of speech and public investigations. It confirms the changes already underway in Colombia that can meaningfully address anti-Semitism on our campus and allows the university to continue its transformative research and scholarships,” said David David Greenwald Johnson, Columbia, visited its transformative research and scholarships on Wednesday.
The deal comes a day after Colombia announced that it had been subversive in the spring of 2024 and in May this year. While the university did not specify how many students were subject to disciplinary action, the student activist group segregation and divestment alleged up to 80 people were suspended or expelled.
Colombia’s reconciliation prompted strong reactions from scholars on social media.
“It’s heartbreaking to see Colombia succumb to the Trump administration’s attack on higher education and democracy,” Colombia professor Alex Hertel-Fernandez wrote in a Bluesky article. “It not only puts pressure on offensives against civil society and other universities, but it feels like crazy to trust the government to keep the deal.”
Columbia lecturer Scott Horton called the move “completely betrayed” in a social media post, calling for the evacuation of Shipman and Greenwald on reconciliation.
AAUP targets the Trump administration.
“You can never bend your knees to appease authoritarian bullies,” the group posted on Bluesky. “This is a devastating blow to Colombia’s academic freedom and freedom of speech. There has never been such an intention to completely undermine higher education in the history of this country, as we know it.”
But Trump administration officials celebrated the news.
“Columbia’s reforms are a roadmap for elite universities who want to restore confidence in the American public by updating their commitment to seeking truth, merits and civil debate. I believe they will span the campus culture in the higher education sector for years and change it for years,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement about the settlement.
