March 23, 2025 (EIRNS)—On Friday, March 21, Columbia University gave in to demands made by the Trump administration as a condition for possibly restoring the $400 million in federal funds being withheld for political reasons, supposedly as a necessary step to fight anti-Semitism. In a four-page letter, the University gave in to many of the demands made by the Trump administration.
The demands included “expulsion or multi-year suspension” for those who occupied Hamilton Hall. Columbia obliged. The letter explains: “Students who violated our rules during Columbia’s first encampment or at Hamilton Hall have been suspended, expelled, or had their degrees temporarily revoked. Disciplinary proceedings against other encampment participants are ongoing.”
The other major concessions are the establishment of a formal definition for anti-Semitic, which includes “certain double standards [read: standards] applied to Israel,” the hiring of several dozen special officers who will be able to remove and arrest people from campus, the banning of masks or other face coverings when violating university rules, and, perhaps most significantly, installing a thought-crime czar as a new senior vice provost to oversee the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department.
