Columbia University cedes to Donald Trump’s demands with series of reforms

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Columbia University will fix its domination aspects after pressure from the Trump administration, which amazed concerns about the restrictions imposed on academic freedom across the United States.

On Friday, Katrina Armstrong, the temporary president of Colombia, set a series of measures – including the centralization of disciplinary procedures against students and the appointment of a senior official to “review” regional studies programs, starting with those covering the Middle East.

“At all times, we are guided by our values, put academic freedom, free expression, open investigation, and respect for everyone at the forefront of every decision we make,” Armstrong said in a statement.

This step, which was criticized by the faculty members of the Ivy League and the national academic societies, followed a fierce campaign led by Republicans claiming anti -Semitism on the New York City campus, which was raised by the protests after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel and the subsequent Israel attack in Gaza.

Federal officials withdrew $ 400 million from funding from Colombia earlier this month and threatened to reduce financial support in the future unless the university meets a series of demands for reform quickly.

This has sparked a week of extensive negotiations that included pressure from Colombia lawyers to prevent academic societies legal challenges in favor of the Trump administration demands.

The measures announced on Friday included initiatives such as the centrality of students ’discipline, the prohibition of masks that hide the identities of the demonstrators and the appointment of a great deputy to apply to review the” all aspects “of the leadership, curricula and appointments of the college and ensure” comprehensive and balanced “programs.

However, the university did not stop meeting the government’s demands to impose the official “academic guard” in the Department of Middle East Studies, South Asia and Africa for a period of five years and cancel its judicial council. Instead, the president will have more control over the membership of the Council.

Michael Thadius, Vice President of the Colombia branch of the American Association of University Professors, described the measures as “disappointing and hopeless.”

He said personally, he said: “The appointment of a new senior deputy for regional studies should not be used to purchase the content of research and teaching on controversial topics in Colombia. It would strike in the heart of our academic freedom.”

“This undermines the American higher education force, which is supposed to be liberated from unjustified government infiltration and unjustified political influence on the curricula,” said Lin Pacirayla, President of the American Colleges and Universities Association.

In reference to the concerns of Republicans and some academics dominated by many American universities by faculty members who have more progressive opinions, Colombia has also pledged that new faculty searches “will be expanded to ensure intellectual diversity through our academic and scholarships.”

He indicated that there was a modern shrinkage in both the Jewish and African Jewish joining, and said, “We will study these issues closely.”