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Three federal agencies on Monday said they welcomed the policy changes announced Friday at Columbia University, following the Trump administration’s revocation of $400 million in federal funding following campus protests. Their statement seemed to signal the first steps of a possible restoration of money to the institution.
Among the changes at the Ivy League school are a review of admissions policies, making it easier to report harassment, tightening rules about the location of protests, prohibiting masks at protests, giving campus police new arrest powers and giving the office of the provost more authority to deal with disciplinary action against students involved in protests.
The Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and the General Services Administration called the Columbia moves a “positive first step.”
“Columbia’s compliance with the Task Force’s preconditions is only the first step in rehabilitating its relationship with the government, and more importantly, its students and faculty,” they said in a release.
“The decisive steps the Task Force has taken with Columbia have yielded positive results that should serve as a roadmap for universities with similar problems across the country,” the release added.
Columbia students encountered a new campus environment Monday after the sweeping policy changes were announced while they were away on spring break, seemingly bowing to the Trump administration’s demands.
The school said it would revise its disciplinary policies, sharply restrict protests, ban masks, sanction student groups in violation and immediately review its Middle East studies programs and admissions.
Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, met with members of the faculty over the weekend to urge support of the policy changes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
During the meeting, Armstrong told faculty leaders six federal agencies are investigating the school and could pull support, which would be “potentially devastating to our students in particular,” according to a transcript reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. She faced pushback during the meeting from concerned faculty members, the newspaper said.
The school hasn’t taken any legal options off the table, Armstrong told the faculty according to the Journal.
While Columbia is caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration zeroing in on campus protests and cracking down on immigration, many questions remain about how the announced changes will take shape as students return with less than two months left in the school year and tensions once again flaring in Gaza.
Columbia was the first college to see its funding slashed as part of President Donald Trump’s threats to cut federal money to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.
The university has repeatedly stated it will not tolerate antisemitism.
On Monday, faculty at a vigil spoke out against university concessions.
The last academic year saw widespread campus unrest, including pro-Palestinian protests and encampments, counterprotests, building takeovers, arrests and scaled-back graduation ceremonies as Columbia became the epicenter of the nationwide demonstrations.
Shubhanjana Das, a student leader in the masters program at Columbia Journalism School, told CNN the university’s dispute with the Trump administration over federal funds is not just about the money but rather the “signals it sends to education at large in the country, to higher education, to elite universities like these.”
“All of us are quite aware that because of the status that Columbia University has in American education, the attack isn’t singular. We’re going to see a ripple effect,” said Das.
Das said as Columbia has been at the center of pro-Palestinian protests, “… to say that it’s essentially going to ban any protest that it thinks is antisemitic/pro Palestine – I guess we’re mixing up those words now – there’s going to be armed officers with power to arrest people. We don’t even know how they’re going to carry out these things.”
The Trump administration on March 8 directed immigration officers to arrest Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and prominent Palestinian activist who played a central role in protests against the Israel-Hamas war on the campus last year and who believes he was targeted for his beliefs.
Khalil is a permanent legal resident married to an American citizen, but his green card has been revoked. He is challenging his detention in court and a federal judge has temporarily blocked his deportation. He’s been in ICE custody for three weeks and has not been charged with any crime.
In a new court filing arguing against Khalil’s release, Justice Department attorneys accuse the activist of immigration fraud, alleging he failed to disclose both his membership in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and his previous employment with the Syrian office of the British Embassy in Beirut. The DOJ argues “misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech.”
It’s the first time the government is pointing to specific alleged violations by Khalil. His attorney Baher Azmy told CNN he does not think the claims undermine their case for release. “It’s a recognition that the initial charges are unsustainable … So they’re going with a theory that they must think is more legally defensible,” Azmy said.
Khalil’s arrest has helped fuel an environment of uncertainty, fear, stress and frustration, Das said. “One could literally see the number of students decreasing on campus,” she added.
Here’s a look at how campus life could change for students returning Monday and in the weeks to come:
The new rules effectively ban protests inside and immediately outside academic buildings, and all demonstration activity is subject to the university’s antidiscrimination and anti-harassment policies.
The university hired 36 new campus police officers specifically trained to deal with protests with powers to remove or arrest protesters as part of the changes, and it will continue to cooperate with the New York Police Department as needed.
Anyone who engages in protests or demonstrations must, when asked, show their university ID and are banned from wearing face coverings for the purpose of “concealing one’s identity,” according to the university’s statement released Friday.
CNN reached out to Columbia to ask about what methods they will use to identify students, along with details on how curriculum will be reviewed, but university spokesperson Matthew Vuono said: “We’re not going to comment beyond the materials we shared.”
One Jewish student at Columbia University told CNN the policy changes have created a “climate of fear” as they return to classes to finish the school year.
“We’re going to be walking around campus knowing that at any moment, really, we could be harassed by one of these new security officers they’re hiring,” said the student, a lead organizer for Columbia University Jews for Ceasefire who spoke with CNN anonymously due to safety and privacy concerns.
“… Or perhaps even by a police officer in certain cases, for simply sharing our viewpoints, which is a gross violation of free speech,” the student said. He added the mask ban is notable “due to its clear intention of surveilling students.”
The office of the provost will also have new authority to deal with disciplinary action against students involved in protests, although the university president retains the final decision on appeals.
Faculty members dressed in black held a vigil Monday outside the university’s gates and spoke out about the changes.
“In a nutshell, academic freedom is the commitment by universities to protect the intellectual discourse within their walls from political interference, or external interference of any kind,” said Michael Thaddeus, a professor of mathematics.
“The whole reason universities exist is to foster debate, discussion, inquiry, investigation and discovery without fear of external pressure,” Thaddeus added.
Another professor said she could have been at home dry, grading as it was raining in New York City but she showed up to remind the administration “capitulating to demands will not save us.”
Timothy Frye, professor of post-Soviet foreign policy, said, “The assault on higher education erodes our country’s greatest asset, our human capital, and benefits only those who seek us harm.”
“Don’t be afraid,” Frye said. “We are attacked not because we are weak but because we are strong.”
The implementation of new antidiscrimination policies allows the university to take sanctions against student groups for violations of their policy. Its approach and relevant policies “will incorporate the definition of antisemitism recommended by Columbia’s Antisemitism Taskforce in August 2024.”
Their definition of antisemitism reads in part: “Antisemitism is prejudice, discrimination, hate, or violence directed at Jews, including Jewish Israelis.” It also includes holocaust denial, and “targeting Jews or Israelis for violence or celebrating violence against them.”
The report from the task force included testimony from “hundreds” of Jewish and Israeli students and found what it called “a pattern of behavior toward Jewish and Israeli students that is troubling and violates norms of behavior and speech that are central to the values of our university.”
Both Jewish and Muslim students have said they’ve experienced an uptick in hate speech and harassment on campus.
Jewish students at Columbia were among others from major universities who testified to lawmakers last year about feeling unsafe on campus amid a surge in antisemitism. They described hearing violent chants on campus and complained administrators are not doing enough to fight antisemitism, CNN previously reported.
The anonymous Jewish student accused the Trump administration of “trying to use Jewish students to enforce its authoritarian anti-free speech agenda and essentially have us take the blame for it.”
“They’re saying this is for Jewish safety. It’s not. It doesn’t make anyone safer, and certainly not Jews,” he continued.
Karl H. Jacoby, a professor of American history at the university, argued the Trump administration’s move to roll back grants violated the law and its demands to make changes to curriculum represent a government overreach.
“Now that this sort of federal takeover has been sanctioned by the Columbia administration, there is every reason to believe that Trump will use this same sort of pressure … to constrain other units at Columbia that Trump finds inconvenient, be it our Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender or our Earth Institute, which is a leading center for investigating climate change.”
The US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Workforce said in a statement on X following the policy changes Columbia “FOLDS to the Trump admin’s demands to protect Jewish students and faculty.”
“School administrators failed to hold pro-terror mobs accountable for rampant antisemitism. Now, masks are banned during protests and safety measures are increasing. Republicans and the Trump admin are stopping it,” the post reads.
Jack Lewis Snyder, a professor of international relations at the university, said he does not think Columbia has made concessions.
“Columbia’s response to the Trump administration’s demands can be carried out in a way that is consistent with our rules. That’s what I expect will happen,” Snyder told CNN. “We’ll see whether the Trump administration will find that acceptable.”
The university said its “immediate” review of Middle East studies will be overseen by a newly appointed senior vice provost, which the university said will expand intellectual diversity among faculty to assure fairness in Middle East studies and will commit to “institutional neutrality” universitywide.
It’s not clear what the university means by “fairness” or how quickly the curriculum review will be carried out, and the spokesperson declined to comment further.
A new judicial board will be overseen by the office of the provost to determine appropriate disciplinary actions.
The university’s plans provided in a document to the Trump administration said it is applying “consistent, rigorous, and effective disciplinary actions,” citing how Columbia has expelled, suspended or temporarily revoked the degrees of students who occupied Hamilton Hall in April 2024, leading to dozens of arrests.
“Disciplinary proceedings against other encampment participants are ongoing,” the document says. It also promised a review of admissions policies, noting admissions of Jewish and Black students have been in decline.
The university’s board of trustees endorsed the reforms in a letter to Columbia’s academic community, saying they had met with federal agencies and discussed changes and decisions the school has made.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by CNN on Saturday, appears to be the first public signal the university is united behind the controversial changes. The trustees wrote they believe the changes are in line with the school’s values and mission.
“Members of our community and external stakeholders have raised concerns about a multitude of issues, such as antisemitism, discrimination, harassment, and bias,” the trustees wrote.
Whether the university’s plans will lead to the release of the $400 million in funding is unclear. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
The anonymous Jewish student said he and others are “starting to feel like our university is working less for us and more for the Trump administration.” While he and others chose the school seeking a place of real learning and inquiry, the student said the campus is “becoming a place of surveillance and of authoritarianism.”
Students are scared to share their viewpoints, go to class and protest out of fear it could be used against them legally or through student disciplinary measures, he said.
Das said the “repression of free speech” on campus is “targeting pro-Palestine expression of any sort, any shape or form.” She added, “That’s why Columbia is such an easy target, because we started this movement across educational institutions in the world, let alone America.”
Das said the lack of specific detail from the university on rolling out the policy changes has further fueled the fear of what they will tangibly look like on campus.
“I don’t see how the spring is going to be peaceful at all for the students, for us,” Das said.
CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Hanna Park, Jeff Winter and Sabrina Souza contributed to this report.
