The Division of Training on Wednesday announced that Columbia College “not seems” to fulfill accreditation requirements resulting from pupil protests over Israel’s ongoing battle in Gaza, threatening the Ivy League establishment’s accreditation standing.
President Donald Trump and his administration argue that the protests represent antisemitism and have been utilizing the difficulty as ammunition in a tradition battle in opposition to elite establishments of upper training.
The Division of Training doesn’t difficulty accreditation itself. Relatively, it recognizes accrediting agencies, such because the Center States Fee on Greater Training, of which Columbia is a member.
Training Secretary Linda McMahon pressured the Center States Fee in a press release.
“Accreditors have an unlimited public accountability as gatekeepers of federal pupil help. They decide which establishments are eligible for federal pupil loans and Pell Grants,” she mentioned.
The Center States Fee will now should give you a plan to handle the problems. If Columbia doesn’t cooperate, its accreditation might be revoked.
“We look ahead to the Fee maintaining the Division absolutely knowledgeable of actions taken to make sure Columbia’s compliance with accreditation requirements together with compliance with federal civil rights legal guidelines,” McMahon mentioned.
The fee confirmed that it obtained a letter from the Division of Training however declined to remark any additional.
A spokesperson for Columbia mentioned the college was conscious of the issues and has addressed them “immediately with Center States.”
“Columbia is deeply dedicated to combating antisemitism on our campus. We take this difficulty critically and are persevering with to work with the federal authorities to handle it,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The Training Division’s civil rights workplace introduced final week that it had decided Columbia’s management acted with “deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish college students, thereby violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” which states that applications receiving federal funds can not discriminate on the premise of race, coloration or nationwide origin.
Since retaking workplace, Trump has been focusing on Columbia and different top-tier colleges like Harvard for alleged antisemitism as Israel continues to raze the Gaza Strip and starve its inhabitants.
Trump canceled a whopping $400 million in federal grants to Columbia College again in March. Whereas the college capitulated to the president’s demands, it didn’t end in a restoration of the funding; an additional $250 million in funds from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being had been frozen later.
