Washington, Mar 15: The Trump administration brushed aside decades of precedent when it ordered Columbia University to oust the leadership of an academic department, a demand seen as a direct attack on academic freedom and a warning of what is to come for other colleges facing federal scrutiny.Federal officials told the university it must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years”. The demand was among several described as conditions for receiving federal funding, including USD 400 million already pulled over allegations of antisemitism.
Across academia, it was seen as a stunning intrusion.
“It is an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,” said Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors. “Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.”
President Donald Trump has been threatening to withhold federal funding from colleges that do not get in line with his agenda, from transgender athletes participating in women’s sports to diversity, equity and inclusion programmes. On Friday, his administration announced investigations into 52 universities as part of his DEI crackdown.
But he has held particular fervour for Columbia, the Ivy League campus where a massive pro-Palestinian protest movement began with a tent encampment last spring. Officials continued to ratchet up pressure on the school on Friday, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying the Justice Department is investigating whether it hid students sought by the US over their roles in the demonstrations.
Trump and other officials have accused the protesters as being “pro-Hamas”, referring to the militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
The letter also demands that Columbia ban masks on campus meant to conceal the wearer’s identity “or intimidate others”, adopt a new definition of antisemitism, abolish its current process for disciplining students and deliver a plan to “reform undergraduate admissions, international recruiting, and graduate admissions practices”.
The letter “obliterates the boundary between institutional autonomy and federal control”, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education.
For generations, the federal government has given colleges space to manage their own affairs, within the constraints of federal law. The Supreme Court has long treated academic freedom as an extension of the First Amendment. Higher education leaders say autonomy is what sets America’s colleges apart and makes them a destination for top international scholars.