Anti-Semitism task force could issue immediate stop orders for $51 million in contracts
The Trump administration’s multi-agency task force to combat anti-Semitism is launching a review of Columbia University’s contracts and grants, citing the Ivy League institution’s “apparent failure” to protect Jewish students. It will probe more than $5 billion in federal funding commitments and could issue stop orders impacting more than $51 million in active contracts.
The Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the U.S. General Services Administration announced the move in a Monday night press release. It came almost immediately after Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s confirmation.
“Americans have watched in horror for more than a year now, as Jewish students have been assaulted and harassed on elite university campuses. Unlawful encampments and demonstrations have completely paralyzed day-to-day campus operations, depriving Jewish students of learning opportunities to which they are entitled,” McMahon said in a statement.
“Institutions that receive federal funds have a responsibility to protect all students from discrimination. Columbia’s apparent failure to uphold their end of this basic agreement raises very serious questions about the institution’s fitness to continue doing business with the United States government.”
McMahon has said she “wholeheartedly” supports President Donald Trump’s call to close the Department of Education. In the meantime, however, she’s pledged to focus on tackling campus anti-Semitism and DEI initiatives. Before her confirmation, in late January, Trump directed all federal agencies “to combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since October 7, 2023.” The Justice Department launched an anti-Semitism task force to “root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses” shortly thereafter.
The funding review comes as anti-Semitic student radicals continue to plague Columbia. Just last week, two anti-Semitic student groups, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) and Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, stormed a campus building at Columbia’s sister school, Barnard College. They clashed with security guards, sending one to the hospital, and caused $30,000 in damages—all in protest of Barnard’s decision to expel two students who interrupted an Israeli history class and targeted Jewish students with anti-Semitic flyers.
Weeks earlier, members of CUAD dumped cement into a campus building’s sewage system.
This is not the task force’s first action targeting Columbia. On Friday, the task force announced that it would visit Columbia and nine other schools that have struggled to combat anti-Semitic incidents following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack.
Columbia addressed the funding review in a statement, saying it “is fully committed to combatting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our University.”
“We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff,” the statement concluded.
This article was originally published at freebeacon.com
Author
