The Education Department said Columbia University no longer appeared to meet accreditation standards after concluding that the school is in violation of anti-discrimination laws, the latest effort by the Trump administration to target elite schools over their handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the school’s leadership “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus” after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
“Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants. Just as the Department of Education has an obligation to uphold federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors have an obligation to ensure member institutions abide by their standards,” she said.
The Education Department said it had notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that the administration found that the school failed to meaningfully protect students during the protests, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The department also cited federal law which they said required accreditors to notify member institutions if they were in noncompliance and establish a plan to bring them back into compliance.
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