Columbia University students, faculty, staff and alumni launched a "speak out" Monday to criticize school leaders for bowing to the Trump administration's demands after it pulled $400 million in federal funding from the campus.
Hundreds of students, faculty, staff and alumni were taking part in the 25-hour event that organizers said was intended to amplify a growing position within the Columbia community that the school administration had caved-in to Washington and that the school's academic freedom was under attack.
The administration has paused billions of dollars in federal grants and research funding at universities nationwide to target what it describes as a failure to deal with antisemitism and its handling of protests against Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip.
“All of us have dedicated our lives to both a continual process of learning but also educating," Brooke West, a professor of social work at Columbia said, as dozens of students walked by. "But how can we do that when our students, when our institutions and academic freedom and free speech are under attack?"
David Guirgis, who will graduate next month with a master's degree in social work, said he's ashamed his school didn’t stand up to the administration.
“This is an all-out attack on science and academic freedom," he said just before the rally began. "We are pioneers in biomedical research, legal research and environmental science research and all of that got cut simply because the Trump administration had a vendetta against universities.”
Columbia was the first university the administration targeted, and it acceded to several requests, including adjusting its admissions process and implementing “greater institutional neutrality.”
White House spokesman Harry Fields said Monday that some universities failed to protect Jewish students and violated the law.
“Universities’ violation of federal law, due to their blatant reluctance to protect Jewish students and defend civil rights, is unbecoming of institutions seeking billions in taxpayer funds," Fields wrote in an email. "The Trump Administration remains committed to reforming higher education and combating anti-Semitism.”
The Trump administration told the university last month that it would reinstate the school's federal funding if it met certain demands, including banning masks on campus and holding disciplinary hearings for student protesters.
“This is the first time in a long time that I’ve felt embarrassed to be an alum of Columbia,” said alumna Augusta Souza Kappner. “It’s really a travesty what they are doing now to their students, faculty and staff."
Susan Witte, a professor of social work and a rally organizer, said she is concerned the federal cuts will impede research in climate science, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.
“It affects everyone in this country and globally,” she said. “We are getting attacked at all levels, and we believe this is a crisis at the university."
Riana Elyse Anderson, an associate professor of social work, said Columbia had the chance to be bold and make a statement not only for the university but the country.
“We want them to fight back against the federal impasse, we want them to deploy every legal means necessary to challenge the federal government’s termination of our grants,” she said.
Students and faculty said they had some demands of their own for the university: fight back against federal attacks; protect and defend students and international scholars; re-establish diversity policies; and protect researchers.
Professors at the rally hoisted signs reading, “Columbia Fight Back,” “Defend Freedom of Speech” and “Protect our Students.”
Authorities have apprehended at least three Columbia students in recent weeks, including graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who was involved in student protests last year.
On Monday, the Brandeis Center, a human rights organization, said it had filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of two Columbia janitors who were allegedly assaulted last year during a protest inside Hamilton Hall.
