Columbia has agreed to pay more than $220 million to the federal government to get the Trump administration to restore its federal research money. It was originally canceled because of the university's failure to deal with demonstrated animosity against Jews on campus.
Campus Reform's Zachary Marschall, Ph.D. said to AFN he's both pleased and disgusted.Columbia had been threatened with potentially losing billions of dollars in support from the government in addition to $400 million in grants that were canceled earlier this year.
"I like the deal that is in place, but in a broader context, I find this entire episode embarrassing as a Jewish American because it shows that Colombia was pretty much only motivated by money and their own greed to do the right thing by Jewish students," Marschall says.
Columbia says that it will pay a $200 million dollar settlement over three years. The agreement says Columbia will also pay $21 million to deal with civil rights violations against Jewish employees that happened following Oct.7, 2023, when the terrorist group Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children.
The university will also be complying with other demands set forth by the Trump administration, including the enforcement of a new federally approved definition of antisemitism to use for teaching and disciplinary investigations.
However, while the Columbia is making all these changes in policy and reform, they do not have to admit that any wrongdoing happened.
Marschall further explained his thoughts on this deal.
"They had over a year to put these measures in place, to take campus security and safety much more seriously with much more robustness than they did, and they're only now doing what amounts to the first steps to doing the right thing because they want their money back,” Marschall expresses. “It's so gross and so embarrassing to witness, so I have a bitter taste in my mouth over it, and I cannot shake that even though I think the deal itself is a step in the right direction."
