Ivy League school faces 'critical' cuts as Trump halts hundreds of million in funding
Columbia University faces immediate impacts to "research and other critical functions," university officials said days after President Donald Trump ordered its federal funding cut by $400 million.
Trump announced the cuts Friday after criticizing the New York City-based Ivy League university over its handling of pro-Palestinian student protests last spring and summer. Immigration officials on Saturday detained a leader of the Columbia protests, Mahmoud Khalil, who faces a court hearing Wednesday.
In a letter to campus, Columbia's interim President Katrina Armstrong reassured faculty, staff and students that she's committed to working with Trump officials to address their "legitimate concerns" about safety for Jewish students. The $400 million in funding represents about 30% of Columbia's annual government contracts, according to the university's 2024 public financial statement.
Armstrong did not specify what cuts would be made in response.
"There is no question that the cancellation of these funds will immediately impact research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care," said Armstrong, who was named interim president late last summer. Former President Minouche Shafik resigned following a contentious Congressional hearing on the protests.
In the spring and early summer, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Columbia's central lawn, creating what one Jewish advocate called a frighting grouping of "malevolent students, radicalized faculty and outside agitators."
Student protesters wanted Columbia to cut ties with Israel amid the war in Gaza, end student-exchange programs and close Columbia's Tel Aviv campus, along with greater financial transparency on the school’s endowment and other investments. Demonstrators had also demanded amnesty for students and faculty disciplined or arrested during protests.
Closed-door talks between protesters and the university quickly devolved, with some protesters then occupying a university building and, eventually, the university calling on New York City police to enter campus and conduct mass arrests.
Armstrong in her campus letter said the protests created chaos on campus. She said university officials are working to repair relationships with Jewish students "who were targeted, harassed, and made to feel unsafe or unwelcome."
Trump has repeatedly criticized universities across the country for how they handled pro-Palestinian protests. In a social media post, the president said he would target any university that allows what he considers "illegal" protests. In addition to Columbia, Trump has launched investigations into 59 other colleges and universities over accusations they haven't done enough to protect Jewish students during protests.
"Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came," Trump posted. "American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested."
Trump Justice Department officials are also investigating: George Washington University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California.