Overview

• On July 23, Columbia agreed to pay $200 million in fines and $21 million to settle EEOC discrimination claims in exchange for lifting a freeze on $400 million in federal research grants.
• Required reforms include enhanced support for Jewish students, a ban on race-based admissions and hiring, federal access to university admissions and disciplinary data, balanced Middle Eastern studies curricula and scaled-back DEI programs.
• Secretary Linda McMahon described the Columbia agreement as a model for negotiations with Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions under federal investigation.
• Multiple peer universities continue to face suspended or paused federal funding and ongoing probes over alleged antisemitism and civil-rights compliance failures.
• Faculty and free-speech advocates warn that using research funding as leverage normalizes political interference in university governance and threatens academic autonomy.