By Molly Claire Goddard
2:46am PDT, Jun 6, 2025
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The United States Department of Education wants Columbia University to be stripped of its accreditation status.
In a Wednesday, June 4, letter to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), Secretary
Linda McMahon and the DOE's Office of Civil Rights requested that the college be punished for their lack of action toward antisemitism on its New York campus.
Keep reading to learn why Donald Trump and his administration want to punish the school…MORE:
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In the memo, Donald Trump's Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed
Columbia was allowing student protests of the Israeli government threaten their fellow learners on campus.
"After Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University's leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus," she penned in the letter. "If a university fails to come into compliance within a specified period, an accreditor must take appropriate action against its member institution."
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The U.S. Department of Education claimed Columbia violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by not protecting its Jewish students. "Equal access to educational opportunities to which they are entitled under the law," the entity alleged.
The DOE requested that the MSCHE notify the university about the infraction and "establish a plan to come into compliance."
"If a university fails to come into compliance within a specified period, an accreditor must take appropriate action against its member institution," they explained.
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Columbia Jewish Alumni Association member,
Matthew Schweber, applauded Donald Trump and his
administration's efforts to combat antisemitism.
"Only the threat of financial insolvency will force Columbia to dismiss the hundreds of faculty members in the humanities and social sciences that teach post-colonial Jerkish, specialize in illiberal identity politics and cheerlead for Hamas," he told the
New York Post.
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In March, Donald Trump and his administration launched a special task force looking into how Ivy League institutions such as Harvard, Columbia and Princeton are stopping
Jewish hate.
The agency reportedly took away $400 million in funding from Columbia University after determining they allegedly weren't strict enough with students who were protesting against the war in
Gaza.
In response, the school issued a
statement which read, "We are reviewing the announcement from the federal agencies and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia's federal funding. We take Columbia's legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff."
