Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to change protest policies

Kristi Noemhomeland Security Secretary

It is a privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a news release about the arrest

All of these steps have been underway and are intended to further Columbia’s basic mission: to provide a safe and thriving environment for research and education while preserving our commitment to academic freedom and institutional integrity.”

In the memo, the university said

Joan Wallach Scottamerican academic

It's an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,

Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors, said of the call for receivership last week

Columbia's capitulation endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide,

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement

Freedom of expression is what enables the rigorous debate and free inquiry on which our academic mission depends,

Columbia said

Students will not be permitted to wear face masks on campus for the purposes of concealing one’s identity. An exception would be made for people wearing them for health reasons,

the university said

But demonstrations and other protest activities that occur inside academic buildings and places where academic activities take place present a direct impediment to maintaining our core academic mission,

it added

Linda McMahoneducation Secretary

Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them

Trump's Education Secretary Linda McMahon said

The reality about bad toasts is that most of them are not disasters, just merely forgettable,

Jason Zinoman writes

James Boasbergjudge

The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning,

Judge Boasberg said in a hearing today

It is one small department in one university,

Historians and professors had expressed concern about the government’s possible intervention ... said a retired former chair of the department

In this role, the Senior Vice Provost will review the educational programs to ensure the educational offerings are comprehensive and balanced,

the memo read, explaining

We have much to be proud of as a community, and it has been a privilege to share our progress and plans,

she said in a statement

In terms of student response, I think that you’re actually going to have many more students involved in this, because it is no longer, you know, divestment, Israel, Palestine. It’s about all these other things,

she said, referring to democracy and freedom of speech

One does not have to agree with the political opinions of any particular individual to understand that these threats cut to the core of what it means to live in a pluralistic democracy,

the journalism school said in a Friday statement

Columbia’s refusal to divest from, and even doubling down on, the genocide of the Palestinian people these past 17 months has made its expected response to the Trump Administration’s ransom note incredibly clear,

the group wrote on Instagram

Such interventions jeopardize our ability to think honestly about the past, the present, and the future, and to do so with our students, who deserve every opportunity to learn and to think for themselves,

the history department members wrote

The way Columbia and Columbians have been portrayed is hard to reckon with,

Dr. Armstrong said

This attempt to discipline and control a university campus is a transparent hallmark of authoritarian rule and harshly violates the central mission of education: teaching, research, and service to the broader society for the public good. We also believe it to be illegal,

the American Association of University Professors said in a statement when the Trump administration first outlined its demands

We urge Columbia to ignore all media framing, TAKE THIS LIFELINE, and act decisively now to restore the mission and the future of the university,

it wrote in a statement on X on Wednesday