The College Fix

Investigation comes on the heels of a dispute with a pro-Palestinian professor, who agreed to retire in January

Columbia University is facing more scrutiny from the U.S. government and could lose up to $5 billion in federal funding due to its allegedly repeated failures to stop antisemitism on campus.

In a warning letter, first reported Wednesday at The Free Press, the Trump administration told the New York university its federal funding may be revoked due to “potential compliance concerns, false claims or other infractions.”

The university said it is reviewing the federal government’s communications in a statement provided to The College Fix via email Wednesday.

“Columbia is fully committed to combatting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our University,” the university stated.

“We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to fight antisemitism, and we will continue to make all efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff,” it stated.

The warning came from the U.S. General Services Administration and Departments of Education and Health and Human Services on Monday. In a news release, they announced a “comprehensive review” of the university’s federal contracts and grants due to potential civil rights violations.

“Given Columbia’s ongoing inaction in the face of relentless harassment of Jewish students, the Federal Government’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government,” the release states.

“The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University to ensure the university is in compliance with federal regulations, including its civil rights responsibilities,” it states.

One of the incidents that may have prompted the review involved statements that Professor Katherine Franke made about Jewish and Israeli students.

The university investigated and reached an agreement that led to the professor’s immediate retirement in January, according to a statement Franke published on the Center for Constitutional Rights website

Franke, who taught at the university’s law school, described her retirement as “a termination dressed up in more palatable terms” in the statement.

MORE: Look at the stars and think of Palestine, Columbia aide tells astronomy class

However, Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said Franke’s statements about Jewish students were problematic.

“Franke engaged in projection, claiming Israeli students ‘had been known’ to harass Palestinian and other students. This, on a campus which has seen ongoing, bigoted harassment of Jewish students since the October 7 Hamas massacre,” Menken told The Fix in a recent interview.

“Freedom of speech is important, but there is no freedom of incitement,” Menken said.

Franke (pictured) has been a vocal supporter of pro-Palestinian students and spoke on the progressive news show Democracy Now! in 2024 to defend their right to protest on campus.

Franke “noted that there had been a history of attacks against Palestinian students and their allies on our campus by Israeli students who had recently completed military service, and that Columbia University was not taking this pattern of harassment seriously enough,” according to her January statement.

“…many of those Israeli students, who then come to the Columbia campus, are coming right out of their military service. They’ve been known to harass Palestinian and other students on our campus,” Franke said in the 2024 interview.

She also expressed concern for the safety of Palestinian protesters, and accused an Israeli student and former Israel Defense Forces member of spraying a “toxic chemical” at a pro-Palestinian rally on the steps of Columbia’s Low Library.

Franke alleged the chemical “caused such significant injuries that several students were hospitalized.” However, a lawsuit filed by one of the Jewish students asserts that the accusations are untrue: the “chemical” was “harmless” “fart spray” and there is “no medical or physical evidence” that students were injured by it, according to the Columbia Spectator

In January, Franke said the university determined that her “public comments condemning attacks against student protesters violated university non-discrimination policy.”

She described the decision as “unjustified,” and accused the university of compromising academic freedom.

“Rather than defend the role of a university in a democracy, in fostering critical debate, research, and learning around matters of vital public concern, and in educating the next generation with the tools to become engaged citizens, Columbia University’s leadership has demonstrated a willingness to collaborate with the very enemies of our academic mission,” Franke stated.

The Fix attempted to contact Franke multiple times for comment through her university email address and the Center for Constitutional Rights, but received no response. The university also did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its investigation of Franke.

The Ivy League institution has faced accusations for years about allowing antisemitism to continue unabated. These accusations accelerated after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and subsequent campus pro-Palestinian protests.

One protest at Columbia last spring resulted in more than 200 arrests and prompted the university to cancel graduation. Then, in August, three administrators resigned after being caught mocking Jewish leaders and students in a series of texts, The Fix reported at the time.

Last year, the university also disciplined Jewish Israeli Professor Shai Davidai, suspending him from campus “for speaking out against anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-American terrorism,” according to his X profile.

Davidai, who teaches at the Columbia Business School, said an imam encouraged pro-Palestinian students on campus to “take [him] out” during an August webinar, The Fix reported.

MORE: Jewish high school grads avoid Columbia amid anti-Israel protests

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