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Welcome to The Logoff: Columbia College has struck a cope with the Trump administration to revive federal analysis funding in alternate for a $200 million settlement and different concessions.
What’s the context? Columbia has been trying to come back to phrases with the Trump administration because it canceled $400 million in analysis funding for the college in March, accusing Columbia of allowing antisemitism on campus. Columbia subsequently caved to a variety of calls for, however solely now succeeded in regaining its federal funding.
Why did Trump go after Columbia? The administration has focused no less than 60 universities for alleged antisemitism, however Columbia obtained specific focus. It was the positioning of high-profile pro-Palestinian protests in April 2024, which spurred related demonstrations at universities throughout the nation. And simply sooner or later after the administration froze Columbia’s funding, pupil activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained for 104 days.
What did Columbia comply with? The deal requires Columbia to pay $200 million to the Trump administration over three years to settle discrimination allegations, in addition to $21 million over a separate investigation. It additionally contains provisions about range, fairness, and inclusion packages at Columbia, worldwide pupil admissions, and Title IX.
What are the implications of the deal? Columbia’s settlement would possibly spell the tip of the college’s months-long conflict with the Trump administration — nevertheless it nearly definitely gained’t mark the tip of President Donald Trump’s efforts to assault American greater training. The administration’s battle with Harvard is ongoing, and a variety of different analysis universities, together with Princeton, Brown, Cornell, and Northwestern, have had analysis funding frozen.
What’s the large image? Since returning to workplace, Trump has got down to break American establishments that don’t cater to his calls for — companies like Disney and Paramount, universities like Columbia and UPenn, and white-shoe regulation companies like Paul Weiss. Ceaselessly, he has succeeded, regardless of providing solely skinny pretenses of wrongdoing. It’s a regarding sample, one generally present in authoritarian regimes.
And with that, it’s time to log out…
I’m thrilled to say my colleagues over on the Immediately, Defined podcast lastly bought to cowl some excellent news: After a pandemic-era spike, homicide charges within the US are falling dramatically. In Baltimore, gun crime has reached a five-decade low. Senior producer Miles Bryan went to Baltimore to learn the way the town made it occur — you may take heed to his wonderful reporting right here.
