The Trump administration said Columbia University violated a civil rights law because it acted with “deliberate indifference towards student-on-student harassment of Jewish students from October 7, 2023, through the present.”
The Health and Human Services Department announced the violation on Thursday night and said “Columbia continually failed to protect Jewish students” because it didn’t establish effective reporting mechanisms for antisemitism until the summer of 2024, among several other reasons.
“The findings carefully document the hostile environment Jewish students at Columbia University have had to endure for over 19 months, disrupting their education, safety, and well-being,” said Anthony Archeval, acting director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS. “We encourage Columbia University to work with us to come to an agreement that reflects meaningful changes that will truly protect Jewish students.”
It’s unclear whether the administration will enforce penalties on Columbia aside from the more than $400 million in grants and contracts the administration has already suspended. “We understand this finding is part of our ongoing discussions with the government,” a spokesman for the university said in a statement to the New York Times.
One way the Trump administration could punish Columbia further is through the False Claims Act.
The act, which allows the government to recover funds lost due to fraud and impose penalties, has enabled the Trump administration to accuse institutions of fraud for accepting federal funds tied to their compliance with civil rights laws.
The Trump administration has found numerous institutions, especially schools, in violation of civil rights statutes such as Title VI, Title VII, and Title IX due to race-based opportunities, scholarships, and hiring, a lack of enforcement against campus antisemitism, and allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.
Columbia was the epicenter of the pro-Palestinian protests last year and has been accused of allowing antisemitism to occur on its campus for years.
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HHS also said Columbia didn’t respond properly to Jewish student complaints, didn’t abide by its policies when addressing misconduct against Jewish students, did not investigate or punish antisemitic vandalism, or enforce its time, place, and manner restrictions for protests held on campus.
