The U.S. Department of Education said it has canceled $400 million worth of federal grants to Columbia University over “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
It’s something President Donald Trump and his administration earlier this week had warned it planned to do.
“These cancelations represent the first round of action and additional cancelations are expected to follow,” the department said in a statement.
The department said it's part of an ongoing review of the Ivy League school's grants and contracts by the administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism — which includes staff from the Justice Department, Health and Human Services, the Education Department and the U.S. General Services Administration.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon implied in a statement announcing the grant cancellations the school had not complied with federal antidiscrimination laws.
Columbia University has been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian protests since last year, some of which have turned violent.
In recent days, students have occupied multiple buildings at Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia University, to protest the expulsion of two students accused of disrupting an Israeli history class. Several students were arrested following an hours-long takeover of a building Wednesday night.
RELATED STORY | Columbia University cancels commencement amid pro-Palestinian protests
Last summer, the school formed a new disciplinary committee — the Office of Institutional Equity — to “fairly and expeditiously” address cases of discrimination, with the first notices going out in late November.
Under its policy, speech against another country may be considered harassment if “directed at or infused with discriminatory comments about persons from, or associated with, that country.”
In recent weeks, the office has sent notices to dozens of students for activities ranging from sharing social media posts in support of Palestinian people to joining “unauthorized” protests.
Jewish students at Columbia are among those who have received the notices for taking part in pro-Palestinian protests. Other Jewish students have said that rhetoric at protests has crossed into antisemitism and that the administration has been too tolerant of demonstrators who created a hostile environment for people who support Israel.
"We are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our university,” Columbia said in a statement following the Trump administration's announcement earlier in the week.
House Republicans have also launched their own review of Columbia’s disciplinary process. Their most recent letter gave administrators until Feb. 27 to turn over student disciplinary records for nearly a dozen campus incidents, including protests it claimed “promoted terrorism and vilified the U.S. military," as well as the off-campus art exhibition.
A spokesperson for Columbia declined to specify to The Associated Press what, if any, records were turned over to Congress and whether they included the names of students. The spokesperson also declined to comment any on pending investigation of students.
RELATED STORY | The president of Columbia University has resigned, citing Gaza protests as a factor
In August, Columbia’s task force on antisemitism issued a report that said Jews and Israelis at the school were ostracized from student groups, humiliated in classrooms and subjected to verbal abuse as pro-Palestinian demonstrations shook the campus. In one instance, pro-Palestine protesters forced their way into a campus building, prompting the university to call in the police and shut down the campus.
The task force has also offered its own definition of antisemitism, which includes discrimination or exclusion based on “real or perceived ties to Israel,” as well as “certain double standards applied to Israel,” such as calls for divestment solely from the country.
That definition was intended to apply to education and training, rather than discipline, according to the task force.
Several students and faculty who spoke with the AP said the committee accused them of participating in demonstrations they did not attend or helping to circulate social media messages they did not post.
