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The Trump administration threatened Monday to drag greater than $50 million in authorities contracts it has with Columbia College — pointing to the Ivy League college’s alleged inaction to get a deal with on anti-Israel protests which have focused Jewish college students.
Federal officers introduced they had been contemplating putting “Cease Work Orders” on $51.4 million value of contracts and reviewing greater than $5 billion in federal grant commitments tied to the Large Apple college to make sure the rights of Jewish college students are being met.
“Anti-Semitism – like racism – is a religious and ethical illness that sickens societies and kills individuals with lethalities akin to historical past’s most dangerous plagues,” Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated in an announcement.
The looming warning to the college is a part of an ongoing investigation into doable civil rights violations and comes after President Trump fashioned the Activity Drive to Fight Anti-Semitism when he bought into workplace in January to combat towards vile hate being carried out on faculty campuses.
Newly minted Secretary of Schooling Linda McMahon stated in an announcement Monday that for the reason that begin of the battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, People have “watched in horror” as Jewish college students have been assaulted and harassed at elite faculties.
“Illegal encampments and demonstrations have utterly paralyzed day-to-day campus operations, depriving Jewish college students of studying alternatives to which they’re entitled,” she stated.
Columbia stated it was reviewing the federal authorities’s message and hoped to work with the White Home to combat antisemitism.
“Columbia is totally dedicated to combatting antisemitism and all types of discrimination, and we’re resolute that calling for, selling, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our College,” the college acknowledged Monday night time.
Columbia has been the middle of abhorrent demonstrations in opposition to Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 assault on the Jewish state that erupted right into a wider battle.
Protesters camped out on the campus inexperienced and even occupied a college constructing final spring – each instances requiring NYPD motion.
Masked college students additionally stormed a Columbia class on fashionable Israel and tossed round hateful leaflets in January. At least two Barnard college students had been expelled following the disruption, an anti-Israel group stated.
The co-founder of Columbia’s Jewish Alumni Affiliation, Ari Shrage, instructed The Put up that Columbia hasn’t carried out sufficient to self-discipline scholar protesters who’ve upended the campus life for Jewish pupils.
“Now the federal government is exhibiting Columbia that they imply enterprise,” Shrage stated.
“The one query is that if Columbia’s leaders will lastly take motion or make issues worse by ignoring the discrimination that Jewish college students have confronted for the previous 12 months and a half.”
Columbia senior Eliana Goldin additionally welcomed the rising federal stress.
“I’m not a fan of presidency intervention,” she stated. “However when nothing else works, I can admire the technique.”
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