The Trump administration is seeking to put Columbia University’s agreement to combat antisemitism under the oversight of a federal judge, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Lawyers in the Department of Justice’s antisemitism taskforce are reportedly seeking a consent decree with Columbia, which is a judicial maneuver that in recent years has been used in cities like Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., to address alleged civil-rights abuses in local police departments.
A consent decree, into which Columbia would have to agree to enter, would give a federal judge the power to hold Columbia in contempt of court and levy fines against it if the judge determines that the school is not complying with the terms of its agreement with the Trump administration.
In March, the Trump administration announced that it was halting $400 million in contracts and grants with the university over its alleged failure to protect the civil rights of Jews under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Later that month, Columbia agreed to a series of Trump administration demands to restore the funding, including a ban on masked demonstrations and reforms of its Middle Eastern studies department.
Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, resigned on March 29 amid the controversy over that agreement.
Federal funds have yet to be restored to Columbia.
“The university remains in active dialogue with the federal government to restore its critical research funding,” a spokesperson for Columbia told JNS on Friday. (JNS sought comment from the Departments of Education and Justice.)
A consent decree would be a powerful new tool for the federal government to enforce compliance with civil rights legislation on college campuses.
Alleged civil rights violations at schools are typically dealt with through resolution agreements with the Department of Education, like the ones the Biden administration secured with Brown University and the University of California.
The Trump administration has signalled that it will seek more stringent deals with universities to protect Jews on campus.
In addition to Columbia, it has cut off or threatened to cut off billions in federal funding to Harvard University and Princeton University. Last month, it issued a warning to 60 universities that they may be failing to meet their obligation to protect Jews under Title VI.
