Trump administration demands Columbia overhaul its policies in extraordinary ultimatum

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump medication has delivered an bonzer ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently extremity national backing to the Ivy League schoolhouse unless it cedes power of an planetary studies section and implements sweeping changes to different field policies.

In a missive sent Thursday night, national officials said the assemblage indispensable instantly spot its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department nether “academic receivership for a minimum of 5 years.”

It indispensable besides prohibition masks connected field meant to conceal the wearer's individuality “or intimidate others,” follow a caller explanation of antisemitism, abolish its existent process for disciplining students and present a program to ”reform undergraduate admissions, planetary recruiting, and postgraduate admissions practices."

The missive described those changes and others arsenic “preconditions” successful bid to statesman ”formal negotiations regarding Columbia University's continued fiscal narration with the United States government." It did not elaborate connected wherefore it was targeting the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department oregon what the process of “receivership” would entail.

“We expect your contiguous compliance with these captious adjacent steps,” officials from the Department of Education, General Services Administration and Department of Health and Human Services wrote.

The medication announced past week that it was pulling $400 cardinal successful national funds from Columbia and reviewing $5 cardinal successful further grants implicit the school's alleged nonaccomplishment to staunch antisemitism connected campus. The cuts person already affected probe studies astatine Columbia's aesculapian center, which has agelong relied connected grants from the National Institutes of Health.

The missive comes arsenic the Trump medication ramps up efforts to enforce power implicit world institutions. On Friday, the Education Department announced it was investigating much than 50 universities, including large nationalist universities, implicit alleged radical discrimination.

Simultaneously, national migration officials person continued to people students for deportation pursuing the apprehension this play of Mahmoud Khalil, a well-known Palestinian activistic presently detained successful Louisiana implicit his relation successful protests astatine Columbia against the warfare successful Gaza.

In a announcement to the pupil assemblage Thursday, Columbia officials said agents with the Department of Homeland Security searched 2 further assemblage residences with a warrant Thursday evening. No 1 was arrested oregon detained, according to the university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, who said she was “heartbroken” by the news.

The assemblage did not instantly respond to a connection seeking remark connected the Trump administration’s letter, which drew contiguous backlash from module members and escaped code groups.

“Half of this worldly you can’t conscionable bash and the different fractional is insane,” said Joseph Howley, a prof of classics astatine Columbia. “If the national authorities tin amusement up and request a assemblage section beryllium unopen down oregon restructured, past we don’t person universities successful this country.”