The Trump administration has escalated its fight with Columbia University, declaring the school doesn’t meet accreditation standards for its failure to protect Jewish students.
“After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus,” US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Wednesday.
The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said on Wednesday it notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education – a nongovernmental association that conducts accreditation activities for higher education institutions – about Columbia University’s alleged violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, according to a news release from the Education Department.
The federal agency said its determination concluded the university “no longer appears to meet” the commission’s accreditation standards.
Accreditation, which is carried out by nonprofit organizations, is required for university students to gain access to federal funds, including student grants and loans, according to Columbia’s website.
“We look forward to the Commission keeping the Department fully informed of actions taken to ensure Columbia’s compliance with accreditation standards including compliance with federal civil rights laws,” McMahon said.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education confirmed to CNN it received a letter on the matter Wednesday but, “we do not have any other comment at this time.”
Columbia last month was accused of violating federal civil rights law by acting with “deliberate indifference” towards harassment of Jewish students on campus since October 7, 2023, coinciding with a terror attack by Hamas and its allies and Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.
A Columbia spokesperson at the time cast the findings as another step in the university’s work with the government to determine the best ways to fight antisemitism on campus.
The announcement was part of a series of actions by the federal government’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which was created following a February executive order from President Donald Trump.
Trump took aim at the college accreditation process with a new executive order in April, asking the secretary of education to “hold higher education accreditors accountable including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination for poor performance or violations to the federal Civil Rights Act,” a White House official told CNN ahead of the signing.
CNN has reached out to Columbia University for comment.
The Department of Education said Wednesday it has “an obligation to provide accreditors with any noncompliance findings related to member institutions” in accordance with Trump’s executive order.
Elite universities across the US – including Columbia – have been under intense pressure from the administration to comply with demands for school policy changes or risk losing federal funding.
Columbia announced a series of sweeping policy changes in March after the Trump administration said it was canceling $400 million worth of grants and contracts to the university over its alleged failure to quash antisemitism on campus.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
