Trump-Backed Antisemitism Policies Come To Columbia

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — As the fight to restore $400 million in federal funding continues, Columbia University adopted a new definition of antisemitism and told members of its community it would no longer meet with or recognize a coalition of students who organized the pro-Palestinian demonstrations this week.

In a letter addressed to the members of the Columbia community on Tuesday, Acting President Claire Shipman said the university would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism.

Groups including the ACLU and Human Rights Watch have criticized the definition, saying it conflates criticizing Israel and advocating for Palestinians with antisemitism, but Shipman wrote it is a guiding definition, "similarly used by many universities and colleges across the country."

The IHRA defines antisemitism as hatred of Jews that can include targeting of the state of Israel.

"However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic," the IHRA continued. To read the full IHRA definition, click here.

Shipman also said the school would no longer acknowledge or meet with a group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which helped organize the pro-Palestinian encampments in 2024.

"I want to reiterate that the University has zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment based on protected traits, including Jewish and Israeli identity," Shipman said in the letter.

"Organizations that promote violence or encourage disruptions of our academic mission are not welcome on our campuses and the University will not engage with them."

"The new commitments to 'combat antisemitism' are a dangerous escalation of Columbia's commitment to silencing opposition to genocide," the Barnard and Columbia student group, Jewish Voice for Peace, said in a statement on social media.

In the letter, Shipman also wrote that the university would be partnering with several organizations to combat antisemitism, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

The letter is the latest in a saga that started back on March 7, when the Trump administration pulled more than $400 million in federal contracts and grants from Columbia University due to what it called the school's "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students," amid recent pro-Palestinian protests.

Shortly after, federal officials sent Columbia a list of demands that, if met, would release the funds.

"All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests," Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Then, on March 21, Columbia published a document outlining all the changes that would be made, including improving a "commitment to greater institutional neutrality" and expanding programming at the school's Tel Aviv campus. See the full document here.

"In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that antisemitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding, will take time," Shipman wrote in the letter.

"It will likely require more reform. But I’m hopeful that in doing this work, as we consider and even debate it, we will start to promote healing and to chart our path forward."

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