March 8, 2025 (EIRNS)—As part of a terror campaign to force compliance from both students and universities the Joint Task Force To Combat Anti-Semitism announced on March 7 the cuts of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The announcement states, “These cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow.” The announcement characterizes the free speech of students as “illegal protests.”
The creation of the federal task force originated from a Jan. 29 Executive Order and was announced on Feb. 3 to stop “anti-Semitic” (or more accurately, pro-Palestinian) activities on university campuses. The joint task force is a joint effort of the Departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration (GSA). The funding cuts against Columbia are said to be the task force’s first-ever enforcement activity. Other universities under its scrutiny include George Washington University, Harvard , Johns Hopkins, New York University, Northwestern University, the UCLA, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California. There are also separate investigations into alleged toleration of campus antisemitism being carried out by the Department of Education into several universities including Columbia , Northwestern, Portland State University, University of California Berkeley and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
