Trump admin piles more penalties onto Ivy League amid funding negotiations

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reportedly suspended additional grants to Columbia University as it continues negotiations with the Trump administration over complaints regarding antisemitism on campus.

NIH reportedly cut $250 million in biomedical research grants to the university in March and has now been ordered to freeze all remaining grants to the school “until further notice,” according to Science Magazine. Columbia, which has seen millions of federal funds frozen by the Trump administration over investigations into antisemitism, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it has not been made aware of any additional cancellations to grants at this time.

“At this time, Columbia has not received notice from the NIH about additional cancellations,” a Columbia spokesman told the DCNF. “The University remains in active dialogue with the Federal Government to restore its critical research funding.”

Columbia received around $690 million in total grants from NIH in 2024, according to Science Magazine. The restriction prevents new awards from being made to the university until it is officially lifted.

The Trump administration first pulled $400 million from Columbia in early March after announcing it was under investigation for its failure to protect Jewish students during the months-long anti-Israel protests that overtook campus since the start of the Gaza War in 2023. Former interim president Katrina Armstrong announced later that month the university had entered a preliminary agreement with the administration focusing on addressing antisemitism and protecting students.

In alignment with the Trump administration’s demands in order for the school to earn back its funding, Columbia agreed to ban masks on campus, hired additional campus police officers and beefed up its disciplinary office staff. The university also declared it will enforce the protest rules it already has on the books.

The violent campus protests culminated in several arrests at the university and the overtaking of Hamilton Hall during the 2024 spring semester. Although Columbia claimed to have punished several students for their involvement in the incident, a spokesman for the university refused to state the names and number of students who were suspended, expelled or had their degrees revoked.

Multiple foreign students are facing deportation over their involvement in the protests.

The Trump administration assembled the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, made up of the Department of Education (ED), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in February and opened investigations into over 60 universities by March, warning them of “potential enforcement actions” if they did not step up to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination.

NIH did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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