Columbia University gave in to President Trump’s demands after he revoked roughly $400 million in federal funding. WSJ’s Douglas Belkin explains how the university made its decision, and the impact that may have on campuses across the country. Further Reading: - Universities Sprint from ‘We Will Not Cower’ to Appeasing Trump - Columbia Yields to Trump in Battle Over Federal Funding Further Listening: - Pro-Palestinian Protests and Arrests at U.S. Colleges - The 2024 College Financial Aid Mess Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Earlier this month, the Trump administration gave Columbia University an ultimatum. Get tougher on student protests, or else lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
Universities are, especially a research university like Columbia, is dependent on the federal government. The federal government has the capacity to shut the tap off. So the school can't operate without the federal government. And that gave the federal government huge leverage.
That's our colleague Doug Belkin, who covers higher education. Trump's ultimatum put the storied university between a rock and a hard place, and kicked off a big debate inside the school.
— If we allow the president to dictate how we work inside the campus, we give away academic freedom. And they're really anxious to protect that. So that's why this choice was so difficult to make, because you're pitting gold versus principle.
But on Friday, after an intense internal debate, Columbia gave in and agreed to make the changes Trump wanted. How big of a deal could this showdown be for America's colleges and universities?
It's like two tectonic plates slamming into each other. And it has the potential to change higher education significantly going forward. We are absolutely in a generational shift. I think we're probably in a once-in-50-year shift. This decision will resonate for a long time to come.
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudson. It's Monday, March 24th. Coming up on the show, why Colombia gave in to Trump. Columbia University got into Trump's crosshairs last year when protests broke out over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Students camped out for weeks. At one point, some of them occupied a school building.
They were calling for a ceasefire and for the university to divest from companies doing business with Israel. And even some faculty joined in.
You've got all of this faculty that very much believe that protest is critical. The ability to speak freely is critical. They believe that these kids are doing the right thing. Some of them are teaching that this is part of, you know, how the world needs to be a better place.
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