Trump administration demands Columbia overhaul academic courses in extraordinary ultimatum

Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after the building was taken over by protesters earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration has delivered an extraordinary ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently end federal funding to the Ivy League school unless it cedes control of an international studies department and implements sweeping changes to other campus policies.

In a letter sent Thursday night, federal officials said the university must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years.”

It must also ban masks on campus meant to conceal the wearer’s identity “or intimidate others,” adopt a new definition of antisemitism, abolish its current process for disciplining students and deliver a plan to ”reform undergraduate admissions, international recruiting, and graduate admissions practices."

The letter described those changes and others as “preconditions” in order to begin ”formal negotiations regarding Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government." It did not elaborate on why it was targeting the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department or what the process of “receivership” would entail.

“We expect your immediate compliance with these critical next steps,” officials from the Department of Education, General Services Administration and Department of Health and Human Services wrote.

The letter comes as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to impose control over academic institutions. On Friday, the Education Department announced it was investigating more than 50 universities, including major public universities, over alleged racial discrimination.

Simultaneously, federal immigration officials have continued to target students for deportation following the arrest this weekend of Mahmoud Khalil, a well-known Palestinian activist currently detained in Louisiana over his role in protests at Columbia against the war in Gaza.

In a notice to the student body Thursday, Columbia officials said agents with the Department of Homeland Security searched two additional university residences with a warrant Thursday evening. No one was arrested or detained, according to the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, who said she was “heartbroken” by the news.

The university did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the Trump administration’s letter, which drew immediate backlash from faculty members and free speech groups.

“Half of this stuff you can’t just do and the other half is insane,” said Joseph Howley, a professor of classics at Columbia. “If the federal government can show up and demand a university department be shut down or restructured, then we don’t have universities in this country.”

Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press