Trump admin scores victory against Columbia

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by two teachers’ unions over the Trump administration’s funding cuts to Columbia University.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) initiated the lawsuit in March after the Trump administration cut roughly $400 million from the Ivy League university over its alleged failure to address antisemitism on campus. In the opinion, Trump-appointed district judge Mary Kay Vyskocil stated the challenge lacked standing as the plaintiffs themselves did not suffer any direct harm, and noted that Columbia itself was “conspicuously absent.”

“Our democracy cannot very well function if individual judges issue extraordinary relief to every plaintiff who clamors to object to executive action,” the opinion stated.

AAUP and AFT did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Columbia’s current battle with the federal government dates back to the start of the Israel-Hamas war, when the campus became the hotspot for antisemitic protests. The university reportedly failed to enforce meaningful punishment on over 100 students involved in pro-Hamas demonstrations, from unauthorized encampments to the overtaking of a campus building during which a university employee was reportedly held hostage.

The Ivy League school agreed in March to several demands from the administration in an effort to earn back the $400 million in federal grants revoked the previous month. The demands included banning masks on campus, hiring additional campus police officers, bolstering its disciplinary office staff, and enforcing the protest rules Columbia already has on the books. The university did not address the request to adjust its international student admission policy to better vet incoming foreign students.

Despite this, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in May found Columbia University violated its students’ civil rights by demonstrating a “deliberate indifference” to antisemitism on campus. Now, the administration is looking to revoke the school’s accreditation.

Columbia and the White House did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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