White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University

What happened

The Trump administration is seeking to lock Columbia University into a legally binding consent decree, giving the White House oversight of the university for years to come, The Wall Street Journal said Thursday. The proposal is a significant escalation of President Donald Trump's expanding effort to exert power over top-tier U.S. universities by withholding federal research funds.

Who said what

After Trump withheld $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia, accusing the school of insufficiently protecting Jewish students from harassment during 2024 Gaza War protests, the university "agreed to an initial set of demands," the Journal said. A consent decree would legally bind Columbia to those and future concessions, giving a judge the power to levy fines for noncompliance.

The Trump administration calls its cancellation of research funds and foreign student visas a "campaign against antisemitism on college campuses," The Associated Press said. Critics call it a "crackdown on free speech" and academic freedom.

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What next?

A consent decree with Columbia "could serve as a model for other schools seeking to negotiate with the White House," The New York Times said. But the university would have to agree, and negotiations "could require an extended process." Judges "can't just wave a wand and turn an agreement into a consent decree absent a lawsuit," said University of Pennsylvania law professor Tobias Wolff.