- Columbia University is laying off 180 staff due to the Trump administration canceling $400 million in federal grants, citing failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment during pro-Palestinian protests.
- Despite Columbia's April concessions – banning masks, expanding police powers and creating oversight roles – federal funding was not restored, leaving financial uncertainty.
- Harvard, UPenn and Brown also face federal scrutiny over antisemitism and transgender athlete policies. UPenn lost $200 million, while Harvard risks billions in contracts.
- Columbia is cutting research infrastructure and reducing department budgets, with layoffs affecting 20 percent of staff tied to terminated grants.
- The Trump administration is aggressively targeting "woke" universities, withholding funds, investigating policies and detaining activists to pressure compliance with its directives.
Columbia University is set to lay off approximately 180 staff members following the Trump administration's decision to cancel $400 million in federal grants, citing the Ivy League institution's failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.
In March, the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) notified the university about the federal funding cuts for failing to address persistent harassment of Jewish students. At that time, the university warned that the loss of funding would disrupt research, faculty operations and patient care.
But in April, Columbia attempted to appease federal officials by agreeing to several demands, including banning masks used to conceal identities, expanding campus police arrest powers and appointing a senior vice provost to oversee Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies.
Despite these concessions, acting Columbia University President Claire Shipman acknowledged that financial uncertainty persists.
In a letter to the Columbia community, Shipman said the layoffs affect employees "working, in whole or in part, on impacted federal grants," representing 20 percent of staff supported by the terminated grants. The university is also scaling back research infrastructure and reducing spending in some departments.
"In the coming weeks and months, we will need to continue to take actions that preserve our financial flexibility and allow us to invest in areas that drive us forward. This is a deeply challenging time across all higher education, and we are attempting to navigate through tremendous ambiguity with precision, which will be imperfect at times.
"Increasing budget constraints combined with uncertainty related to future levels of federal funding for research, including proposed reductions in facilities and administration (i.e., indirect costs) reimbursements, require us to make difficult choices. We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources. Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard," Shipman said.
Trump administration escalates clash with "woke" universities
The Trump administration has intensified its battle against "woke" universities.
Since taking office in January, Trump has withheld hundreds of millions in federal funding, launched aggressive investigations and detained student activists to crack down "woke" institutions.
Aside from Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania are also facing scrutiny over allegations of failing to combat campus antisemitism and controversial policies on transgender athletes. (Related: Harvard University refuses to comply with Trump admin's demands to combat campus antisemitism.)
Columbia University was the first to lose federal support, with $400 million in contracts suspended after the administration accused the school of not adequately addressing antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Despite policy changes, the funding has not been restored.
The University of Pennsylvania saw nearly $200 million revoked over its policies on transgender athletes in women's sports, despite the school's insistence that its rules align with NCAA guidelines. Harvard, meanwhile, is under review for billions in federal contracts, with the administration alleging it failed to protect Jewish students during campus demonstrations in 2024.
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