Columbia U. faculty sue Trump administration over $430 million funding cut

The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration did not follow proper procedure before revoking the funding, which was a move to limit the freedom of speech of faculty and students.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Columbia University faculty filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the government over a $430 million funding cut linked to the school’s refusal to crack down on ongoing anti-Israel, antisemitic protests on campus.

“This action challenges the Trump administration’s unlawful and unprecedented effort to overpower a university’s academic autonomy and control the thought, association, scholarship, and expression of its faculty and students,” the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said in their suit, which was filed in a Manhattan federal court.

“The integrity of civic discourse and the freedoms that form the basis of a democratic society are under attack. We have to stand up,” commented Reinhold Martin, president of the Columbia chapter of AAUP.

Those protesting Israel’s actions in its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, backed by many university staff members, have maintained that their demonstrations are an exercise of their right to freedom of speech, although many have descended into violence over the last year and a half, with buildings being taken over, university property being defaced and vandalized, and Jewish students being made to fear for their physical safety.

The faculty further charged that “The Trump administration is coercing Columbia University to do its bidding and regulate speech and expression on campus by holding hostage billions of dollars in congressionally authorized federal funding.”

The teachers are furious that Columbia’s administration has formally capitulated to such White House demands as special oversight over the Middle East, South Asia and Africa Studies department, where many classes are allegedly taught with an anti-Israel slant, granting arrest powers to security personnel, and a no-mask policy at protests so violators of the law or school rules of conduct can be more easily identified.

Up to $50 billion in government grants are at risk if Columbia doesn’t comply.

The plaintiffs are asking that the court force the administration to restore the massive subsidies and grants because the government had not followed proper procedure before revoking them.

They said that the relevant departments should have first requested that the university voluntarily comply with its demands.

If Columbia refused, the next mandatory step was for the government to convene a hearing and then observe a waiting period before actually cancelling the funding, they contended.

In a separate lawsuit filed in a Massachusetts federal court Tuesday, the AAUP and others demanded that a judge block the Trump administration’s attempts to arrest or deport non-citizen students because of their pro-Palestinian activism.

The arrest earlier this month of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil for his leadership role in pro-Hamas campus protests motivated the lawsuit.

A judge froze his imminent deportation, with a hearing scheduled for next week on the issue.

In response to the lawsuit, the Justice Department said in a statement that “This department makes no apologies for its efforts to defend President Trump’s agenda in court and protect Jewish Americans from vile antisemitism.”