Columbia University agrees to Trump administration demands to restore funding
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, Manhattan (WABC) -- Columbia University's interim president has informed the community they are agreeing to meet the White House's demands to restore $400 million in federal funding to the school.
The school posted a four-page memo entitled "Advancing Our Work to Combat Discrimination, Harassment, and Antisemitism at Columbia," which will no doubt alarm those resistant to the idea the federal government should dictate Columbia's academic affairs.
Columbia's response is being closely watched by other schools that became flashpoints for pro-Palestinian protests last year.
Columbia agreed to ban masks, including during protests, one of the Trump administration's key demands.
"Public safety has determined that face masks or face coverings are not allowed for the purpose of concealing one's identity in the commission of violations of University policies or state, municipal, or federal laws," the document said.
The agreement will empower 36 campus officers with the power to make arrests.
The university also agreed to stricter controls over its Middle East studies department, which will now be overseen by a new senior vice provost who "will conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East."
The memo promised the new senior vice provost would make sure the curriculum is "comprehensive and balanced" and the faculty represent an "intellectually diverse academic environment" as the Trump administration tries to crackdown on leftwing ideology on campus.
However, it's not clear whether these steps will help restore $400 millions in funding the the government held back earlier this month. Negotiations had been ongoing ahead of the Friday deadline after the revocation of the money halted things like campus research.
Dr. Ian Lipkin was frustrated that his labs were sitting silent after the millions of dollars in funding were pulled by the federal government.
He heads up Columbia University's Center for Solutions for ME/CFS -- a chronic and debilitating disease. The patients are continuously incapacitated. Very few of them recover and there are no established laboratory diagnostic tests, nor are there any established treatments.
He was making strides in his research, but the Trump administration's economic sanctions on Columbia University were preventing his progress.
It all left researchers like Dr. Lipkin wondering what was next for his life's work and what to tell patients.
"I've been hearing from patients over the past few days, you know, what does this mean for me? You promised me that you were going to try to get to the bottom of this, and now, I don't know," Lipkin said.
What he does know is that his patients are unintended victims of a battle between the U.S. president and a private university.
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