WASHINGTON – Columbia University, in hopes of restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen funding, has struck another deal with the Trump administration, the university announced.

The Ivy League school in New York City will pay a massive $200 million fine over three years to the government to settle allegations it violated federal civil rights laws and failed to protect members of its Jewish community from discrimination.

It will also jointly appoint an independent monitor to update the federal government on its compliance with new policies, and pay an additional $21 million fine to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The agreement marks the second major concession from the prestigious university in its protracted negotiations with the government. Despite the drawn-out talks, and many compromises on Columbia’s part, the Trump administration has yet to reroute hundreds of millions of dollars back to the school.

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The school previously agreed, among other things, to bolster campus law enforcement, appoint a new administrator to oversee its Middle Eastern studies department and retool its protest policies in an effort to assuage the White House.

Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a statement that the agreement preserves the university’s independence and will restore research funding, including from the National Institutes of Health, on which the school depends.

“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” she said. “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track.”

The announcement also comes after the Trump administration pushed the University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League school, to agree to a series of demands related to preventing transgender athletes from competing. Similarly, that deal was reached to restore massive amounts of federal money.

Read more: Lia Thomas, Title IX and $175M: Why Penn struck a deal with Trump

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Meanwhile, Columbia is facing a separate battle over its accreditation status, which the school needs in order to distribute federal financial aid dollars to students.

The Education Department has pushed Columbia’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, to reevaluate its standing. Though Middle States has placed the university on warning, such a step would be virtually unprecedented, and a long and complex process would have to be followed before its accreditation could be revoked.

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Columbia University fined $200 million by Trump administration

Columbia University has agreed to pay $220 million to the federal government to settle investigations tied to antisemitism concerns and suspended research funding. The settlement follows months of scrutiny from the Trump administration over the university’s handling of campus protests during the Israel-Hamas war. read more

Columbia University has reached a $220 million settlement with the Trump administration to resolve federal investigations linked to antisemitism concerns and the suspension of research funding, the Ivy League institution announced on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Columbia will pay $200 million over three years to the federal government and an additional $21 million to settle separate investigations by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The deal follows months of federal scrutiny after allegations that the university failed to effectively address antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas conflict that erupted in October 2023.

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In response to pressure from the Trump administration, Columbia agreed earlier this year to a set of reforms, including adopting a new definition of antisemitism and revising its student disciplinary procedures.

Acting University President Claire Shipman called the settlement “an important step forward,” saying it codifies the agreed changes while preserving the university’s academic independence. The agreement does not include an admission of wrongdoing.

At one point, Columbia faced the potential loss of billions in federal funding, including more than $400 million in research grants that had already been canceled. Shipman said the settlement restores the university’s critical research partnership with the federal government while protecting its institutional values.

As part of the deal, Columbia will also review its Middle East studies curriculum to ensure it is “comprehensive and balanced,” hire new faculty at the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, and dismantle programs deemed to promote unlawful race-based outcomes, quotas, or diversity targets.

Columbia University to pay $200m in settlement with Trump administration

Columbia University has agreed to pay $200m (£147m) to the Trump administration over accusations that it had failed to protect its Jewish students.

The settlement, which will be paid to the federal government over three years, was announced in a statement released by the university on Wednesday.

In exchange, the government has agreed to return some of the $400m in federal grants it froze or terminated in March.

Columbia was the first school targeted by the administration for its alleged failures to curb antisemitism amid last year’s Israel-Gaza war protests on its New York City campus. It had already agreed to a set of demands from the White House in April.

Columbia University and the Trump administration have agreed to resolve a months-long dispute over federal funding cuts, the Ivy League school and the White House confirmed on Wednesday evening. The deal requires Columbia to pay the United States $200 million to settle claims related to discriminatory practices, according to White House officials, an additional $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and adds some external oversight to the university.

The White House characterized the agreement as a historic settlement “to address violations of federal civil rights laws and to restore fairness, merit, and safety in higher education.”

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Columbia University’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said the agreement restores the vast majority of the $400 million in federal research funding paused by the administration this spring, and restores the school’s partnership with the federal government. “Importantly, the agreement preserves Columbia’s autonomy and authority over faculty hiring, admissions, and academic decision-making,” she said in an announcement Wednesday evening.

The agreement marks an end to a protracted period of federal scrutiny and financial uncertainty, Shipman said. “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track. Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.”

For months, Columbia has been in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. It was the first to be singled out in the administration’s push to compel universities to adopt its agenda on issues including antisemitism and diversity initiatives.

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Three days after the funding freeze, the Education Department sent a letter that set out its demands, including changes to student discipline, a mask ban and the right to monitor an academic department as preconditions to restoring funding.

Columbia announced several changes — some of them long in the works — including clarifying rules for campus demonstrations, appointing a senior vice provost to review Middle East programs, seeking to increase the intellectual diversity of the faculty and training additional public safety officers to remove and arrest protesters.

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But its funding was not restored in response, and tense negotiations have been underway for months.

The school had been the center of protests over the Israel-Gaza war during the 2023-2024 academic year, with an encampment in the spring that sparked similar demonstrations at colleges across the country, and a takeover of a university building that was cleared by New York police officers.

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The protests were divisive: As college leaders struggled to balance freedom of speech with student safety, some Jewish and Israeli students at Columbia and elsewhere said that school officials had not done enough to stop rising antisemitism. Students reported being ostracized from clubs for supporting Israel, seeing protesters handing out fliers promoting Hamas and instances of signs displayed with target symbols.

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Some other students, including pro-Palestinian activists, criticized the school for trying to stifle views critical of Israel and not standing up to federal intrusion into campus policies.

This past academic year was much calmer, but on the first day of classes in the spring semester, masked protesters burst into a course on the history of modern Israel and handed out fliers, including one labeled “Crush Zionism” with a drawing of a boot stomping on a Star of David. And pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed the school’s main library in May, disrupting hundreds of students studying for finals. Police dispersed the demonstration, arresting scores of people.

The Trump administration’s antisemitism task force praised Columbia’s forceful response. But the school’s research funding was not restored.

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In June, the school’s acting president, Claire Shipman said in a message to the campus community that the challenges to Columbia’s research mission and the entire institution were “becoming increasingly acute” and that they were reaching a “tipping point.” She said it was essential to restore their research partnership with the federal government that the university will comply with the law.

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She also laid out some red lines: “We must maintain our autonomy and independent governance. We decide who teaches at our institution, what they teach, and which students we admit.” Any agreement they might reach, she said, must align with those values.

Columbia is just one of dozens of schools targeted by the Trump administration as it seeks to change campus culture, including university hiring practices, admissions, penalties for antisemitism and other matters. The administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal research funding to several high-profile schools — including more than $2 billion at Harvard, which has fought back with two lawsuits.

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Earlier this month, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to rescind a transgender athlete’s awards and apologize for allowing her to compete on the university’s swim team in 2022. The Trump administration had announced it was freezing $175 million at Penn over the issue. A White House spokesperson said Friday there are no restrictions to Penn’s funding.

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While focused broadly on a campaign to change the nation’s higher education system, President Donald Trump has taken particular interest in Columbia. Then-candidate Trump was in New York City for one of his criminal trials when the anti-Israel demonstrations erupted on the Upper West Side campus, producing images of clashes between students waving Palestinian flags and police dressed in riot gear. He asked to go to the campus to “show solidarity with Jewish people,” a senior White House official said. His team ultimately rejected his request because of logistics and security concerns, the official said.

The settlement comes as Trump and his allies have put immense pressure on powerful institutions, often winning significant concessions. Since winning a second term, Trump and his administration have struck deals or reached settlements with media companies, social media titans and prominent law firms.

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Earlier this year, Trump issued executive orders hitting law firms he disliked with heavy penalties, including saying they should be stripped of federal contracts and their employees blocked from federal buildings. Four firms filed lawsuits challenging his actions, and judges have blocked the orders aimed at those practices.

But nine other law firms, hoping to rescind or avoid similar sanctions, instead struck deals with the administration.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

Columbia University has agreed to pay $200 million over the next three years to resolve claims it discriminated against Jewish students — an agreement the university said will restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants the Trump administration had threatened to withhold.

“While Columbia does not admit to wrongdoing with this resolution agreement, the institution’s leaders have recognized, repeatedly, that Jewish students and faculty have experienced painful, unacceptable incidents, and that reform was and is needed,” the university said in a statement.

Columbia also agreed to submit to a federal monitor that will assure compliance with admissions and hiring practices and provide certain information about foreign students to immigration authorities.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.