Columbia Settles With Trump Administration for $220M: DEI Goes on Academic Probation - Explore Gwinnett's Best in Business, AI & Tech News 2025

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An Ivy League institution learns that “diversity” may be good for discourse—but not necessarily federal dollars.

Welcome to the Ivy League Hunger Games: Columbia Edition

In what could only be described as the plot twist M. Night Shyamalan wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) pole, Columbia University has agreed to fork over more than $220 million to the Trump administration in a historic settlement to regain access to its canceled federal research funding.

To summarize: the Ivy League titan is paying $200 million to be let back into Uncle Sam’s STEM club, and another $21 million to Jewish employees after some… let’s call them “post-Hamas-attack HR issues.”

It’s the most expensive semester of “cancel culture” yet.

DEI? More Like Don’t Expect Income

Under the settlement terms, Columbia has agreed to scrub its programs for any trace of what the Trump administration calls “unlawful DEI goals.” This includes ending any activities or targets related to race-based outcomes, identity-based hiring, and—brace yourself—quotas.

In response, former President Trump posted on Truth Social:

“Columbia has committed to ENDING their ridiculous DEI policies and admitting students based ONLY on MERIT—like we used to do back in the days when college cost $800 and your dad was friends with the Dean.”

Meanwhile, DEI offices across America are clutching their laminated safe space flyers and wondering if they’re next.

Columbia’s New Syllabus: Civility 101, Advanced Apologies, and Government Oversight

As part of the agreement, Columbia will now:

Overhaul its student discipline system (rumored to now involve actual consequences).
Apply a federally endorsed definition of antisemitism that critics argue is broad enough to land you in hot water for saying “falafel” with the wrong tone.
Ask international students probing questions about why they want to study in the U.S.—presumably excluding answers like “to protest outside the admissions office.”

And yes, for those on student visas, Columbia will now offer the Department of Homeland Security real-time updates on who’s been suspended, expelled, or just “vibing too hard” during a protest.

From Protest to Probation: A Very Ivy Scandal

Columbia became the administration’s favorite academic punching bag after student-led pro-Palestinian protests swept the campus in spring 2024. While some Jewish students reported verbal abuse and academic hostility, others actually joined the protests—highlighting the nuanced, complex discourse that no one on cable news has time for.

Protest leaders insisted their ire was directed at the Israeli government, not Jewish people. But in the halls of federal power, that distinction didn’t hold water—or federal funding.

As of this week, Columbia has suspended or expelled 70+ students, revoked a few degrees, and handed in its “Woke” membership card in exchange for a renewed line of credit from Washington, D.C.

Faculty Diversity? Time to Audit the Auditors

The settlement also forces Columbia to:

Appoint new faculty to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies (translation: hire people who won’t write angry think-pieces about the State Department).
Conduct an “honest” review of its Middle East curriculum—which is academia-speak for “check it for footnotes that cite TikTok.”

The university must also file an annual “DEI compliance” report with a government-appointed monitor. The job is rumored to include a magnifying glass, a red pen, and a passion for scrutinizing course syllabi.

Trump’s Ivy League Rebrand: Make Academia Great Again?

In a statement so on-brand it could’ve come with a red hat, Education Secretary Linda McMahon hailed the Columbia deal as:

“A seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold elite institutions accountable for antisemitism, anti-merit admissions, and tenured professors who start every lecture with a trigger warning and end with a TikTok.”

She added that Columbia’s reforms could become a “roadmap” for other universities wishing to avoid the same fate—namely, getting hit with a $200M federal spanking and having their DEI strategy turned into a legal deposition.

Columbia vs. Trump: The Prequel to “Harvard Strikes Back”

While Columbia’s legal white flag fluttered gently in the Upper West Side breeze, Harvard University has taken the bold step of lawyering up, refusing to cede to federal pressure and instead challenging Trump’s definitions of both antisemitism and “merit.”

So far, Harvard’s stance has made it the academic resistance poster child—or, as the Trump camp calls it, “Target No. 2.”

Other schools—including Cornell, Brown, and Princeton—have had more than $2 billion in federal research funding frozen. Which is sort of like getting put in timeout… except instead of your mom, it’s the Justice Department, and instead of juice boxes, it’s your $400 million neuroscience budget.

What This Means for Columbia Students

Let’s break it down:

Protesting may now come with a GPA penalty—and possibly a deportation risk if you’re on a visa.
Student admissions will likely return to “strictly merit-based”—code for: “hope your SAT score is higher than your opinion on intersectionality.”
DEI initiatives will now undergo monthly audits to ensure they’re not “too woke” to work.

Expect fewer affinity groups, more scrutiny of guest speakers, and maybe even the return of that one tenured Econ professor who still uses chalk and says “kids these days” every third sentence.

The Columbia Doctrine: Adapt, Apologize, Accept Oversight

While Columbia has not admitted wrongdoing (because that would cost even more), they’ve agreed to adopt the reforms, change their practices, and publish public assurances that their programs now follow the law—also known as “bureaucratic yoga.”

University leadership insists these changes won’t affect the school’s academic independence, though some faculty are already organizing quiet office protests via font choice and passive-aggressive syllabus updates.

Final Grade: A+ in Survival, C- in Optics

Columbia’s $220 million “settlement” reads more like a political ransom note than a legal agreement. Still, in the modern era of higher ed where you can major in Post-Colonial Yoga Theory and graduate with $250K in debt, perhaps the real lesson here is simple:

💰 If you’re going to lose your funding over a protest, at least make sure someone in the administration knows how to cut a deal.

TL;DR for Columbia Students: