Columbia Faculty Sue Trump Admin To Restore $400M In Federal Funds

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — Groups representing Columbia University professors sued the Trump administration Tuesday to restore the $400 million in federal funds to the university, which was pulled two weeks ago over antisemitism concerns and restored only after Columbia agreed to a long list of the administration's demands.

The lawsuit, from the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers, calls the Trump administration's decision to pull the funding from public health research programs "unlawful and unprecedented."

The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court, and names the defendants as the three government agencies that cut Columbia's funding, including the Department of Justice, Department of Education, Health and Human Services and General Services Administration.

“We’re seeing university leadership across the country failing to take any action to counter the Trump administration’s unlawful assault on academic freedom,” Reinhold Martin, a Columbia architecture professor, said. Martin is the president of the Columbia branch of the American Association of University Professors.

“As faculty, we don’t have the luxury of inaction. The integrity of civic discourse and the freedoms that form the basis of a democratic society are under attack. We have to stand up,” Martin said.

The saga 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."

On March 21, Columbia published a document outlining all the changes that would be made, including banning masks on campus with specific health and religious exemptions, in addition to training 36 campus-based police officers with the authority to make arrests and expanding programming at the school's Tel Aviv campus.

Columbia's interim President, Katrina Armstrong also said she would appoint a new senior school head to conduct a review of the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies department.

“Let’s be clear: the administration should tackle legitimate issues of discrimination," Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said. "But this modern-day McCarthyism is not just an illegal attack on our nation’s deeply held free speech and due process rights, it creates a chilling effect that hinders the pursuit of knowledge—the core purpose of our colleges and universities. Today, we reject this bullying and resolve to challenge the administration’s edicts until they are rescinded."

Read the lawsuit here.

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