The University of Columbia agreed on Friday to put its department of studies in the Middle East on Friday under a new supervision and to revise its rules for the demonstrations and discipline of the students, by acquiring to an extraordinary Ultimatum of the Trump administration to implement these changes and others or risks losing billions of dollars of federal funding.
Within the framework of radical reforms, the University will also adopt a new definition of anti -Semitism and will expand “intellectual diversity” by being part of its Institute of Israel and Jewish studies, according to a letter published on Friday by the acting president, Katrina Armstrong.
The announcement aroused an immediate condemnation of certain groups of teachers and freedom of expression, which accused the University of giving in to the largely unprecedented intrusion by American president Donald Trump on the academic freedom of the school.
“The capitulation of Columbia endangers the academic freedom and the expression of the campus on a national scale,” Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a press release.
Funding has withdrawn the Gaza events
Earlier this month, the Trump administration pulled $ 400 million in the United States of research subsidies and other funding on the university processing of demonstrations against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. As a prerequisite for the restoration of these funds – as well as billions of other future subsidies – federal officials demanded last week that the university immediately adopted nine distinct reforms to its academic and security policies.
Friday, in his response, Armstrong said that Columbia would implement them. As ordered, he will hire a new public security staff and allow them to arrest campus, prohibit students from protesting in university buildings and to reorganize his longtime process for the discipline of students.
Students will no longer be allowed to wear facial masks on the campus “in order to hide his identity”. An exception would be made for the people who carry them for health reasons.
The University will also appoint a new main provost to examine leadership and the program for several international studies departments to “ensure that educational offers are complete and balanced”.
The appointment seemed to be a concession to the most controversial demand in the Trump administration: that the University places its Department of Studies in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa under “academic creation for at least five years”.
The doctoral student at Columbia University, Ranjani Srinivasan, calls the accusations that she is a “terrorist sympathizer”, telling David Common of CBC that she feared for her security after immigration and customs officials presented themselves at her door.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused the University of Columbia of leaving anti -Semitism without controlling the demonstrations against Israel which started at university last spring and quickly spreads to other campuses – a characterization disputed by the people involved in the demonstrations.
In his letter, Armstrong said that the university had worked hard to “respond to the legitimate concerns raised inside and without our community of Columbia, including by our regulators, with regard to discrimination, harassment and anti -Semitic acts that our Jewish community has been confronted”.
“The way Columbia and Columbians have been described is difficult to count,” she said. “We have challenges, yes, but they don’t define us.”
The Trump administration has accelerated its attacks on Columbia in recent weeks, pushing campus in crisis and arousing fears of additional reprisals in colleges across the country.
On March 8, federal immigration officials Arrested Mahmoud KhalilAn eminent Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident in his university building – the “first of many” attempts at deportations, according to Trump.
The leaders of the US Ministry of Justice say they are also investigating to find out if Columbia Hid students looked for by the United States for their roles in demonstrations.
Friday, freedom of expression groups warned that Columbia’s response to Trump’s threat would result far beyond the Manhattan campus.
“Shakeing under pressure from the government, Columbia collapsed,” said Tyler Coward, senior lawyer for government affairs and individual expression.
“If Columbia – With its immense resources and influence – cannot resist the requirements of the government which threaten freedom of expression, what should other colleges do?”
