Columbia University said it will cut around 180 staff members Tuesday following the Trump administration’s announcement in March that it canceled $400 million in federal grants over the Ivy League school’s “failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.”
“Across the research portfolio we have had to make difficult choices and unfortunately, today, nearly 180 of our colleagues who have been working, in whole or in part, on impacted federal grants, will receive notices of non-renewal or termination,” acting Columbia University President Claire Shipman said in a statement. “This represents about 20% of the individuals who are funded in some manner by the terminated grants.
“In the coming weeks and months, we will need to continue to take actions that preserve our financial flexibility and allow us to invest in areas that drive us forward,” she added. “This is a deeply challenging time across all higher education, and we are attempting to navigate through tremendous ambiguity with precision, which will be imperfect at times.”
The White House did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Trump administration has canceled $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University. (Getty Images)
Columbia University said in early March that it was “notified of federal action from Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) cancelling $400 million in federal funding to the University.
“The federal agencies cite ‘the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.’ There is no question that the cancellation of these funds will immediately impact research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care,” it added at the time.
Students and others demonstrate during a protest outside the gates to the Columbia University main campus in New York City on April 21. (Reuters/Ryan Murphy)
Then in April, Columbia University caved in to demands from the Trump administration in an effort to restore federal funding.
The Ivy League school agreed to ban masks for the purpose of concealing identity, empower 36 campus police officers with new powers to arrest students and appoint a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies.
As of today, “Columbia’s leadership continues discussions with the federal government in support of resuming activity on these research awards and additional other awards that have remained active, but unpaid,” according to Shipman.
Members of an anti-Israel mob broke into Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on April 30, 2024. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
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“Increasing budget constraints combined with uncertainty related to future levels of federal funding for research, including proposed reductions in facilities and administration (i.e., indirect costs) reimbursements, requires us to make difficult choices,” Shipman said about the layoffs. “We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources. Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard.”
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.
