A top federal education official said Columbia University is making progress toward regaining hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen funding.
In a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the university was “on the right track” after agreeing to many of President Donald Trump’s demands — including banning masks on campus with exemptions for health or religious reasons, training three dozen campus police officers with arrest authority and barring students from protesting in academic buildings.
McMahon said she’d had “great conversations” with Columbia Interim President Katrina Armstrong.
“Columbia has agreed to about nine things we put in place,” McMahon said. “She knew that this was her responsibility to make sure that children on her campus were safe. She wanted to make sure there was no discrimination of any kind. She wanted to address any systemic issues that were identified relative to the antisemitism on campus.”
In a public statement on Friday, Armstrong said the university’s actions reflect ongoing efforts — not just a reaction to federal pressure.
“Our response to the government agencies outlines the substantive work we’ve been doing over the last academic year to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus,” Armstrong said.
But McMahon stopped short of confirming whether the university’s recent concessions were enough to unfreeze the $400 million in federal funding, which the Trump administration pulled in response to Columbia’s handling of pro-Palestinian student protests, which disrupted campus life after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, and the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.
“We are on the right track now to make sure the final negotiations to unfreeze that money will be in place,” McMahon said.
Asked again, she added: “We’re working on it.”
As part of the changes Columbia agreed to, the school announced it would appoint a new senior vice provost to conduct a “thorough review” of the Middle East studies department, and expand “intellectual diversity” across its course offerings.
The federal demands have drawn criticism from faculty and advocacy groups, who warn they could chill free expression and academic freedom on campus.
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