The Education Department on Wednesday said it notified Columbia University’s accreditor that the school is no longer meeting its standards after failing to protect Jewish students from harassment, a move that threatens its ability to receive federal student aid.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which is responsible for granting the school’s accreditation, that Columbia is violating federal anti-discrimination laws.
OCR, in a press release, said this means the institution is no longer meeting the commission’s accreditation standards.
“Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid,” McMahon said.
Columbia has been undergoing its accreditation review during this 2024-25 academic year, according to its website.
The Education Department threatened Columbia University’s eligibility for federal student aid on Wednesday by informing the university’s accreditor that it is no longer up to par after failing to protect Jewish students from harassment.
Columbia is breaking federal anti-discrimination laws, according to a notification from the department’s Office for Civil Rights to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which is in charge of accrediting the institution. According to a news release from OCR, this indicates that the organization is no longer fulfilling the commission’s requirements for accreditation.
In an announcement, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said that Columbia’s administration “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus” and asked the accrediting agency to notify the department of any steps taken to guarantee that Columbia complies with accreditation requirements.
As the guardians of federal student aid, accreditors bear a huge public duty, according to McMahon. Similar to the Department of Education’s duty to enforce federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors are also responsible for making sure their member institutions follow their rules. “”.
One of the worst penalties a university can receive is losing its accreditation, which is determined by independent nongovernmental organizations. If this were to happen, Columbia would no longer be eligible to receive federal student aid. Students may eventually be forced to transfer to another accredited university outside of Columbia due to the consequences of losing access to federally backed student loans and grants. However, the repercussions of the department’s letter are unlikely to be immediate; typically, schools receive a warning to address the problem or may be placed on probation while they bring their institutions back into compliance.
According to its website, Columbia has been going through its accreditation review for the 2024–25 school year. Its incoming first-year students receive the Pell Grant, a federal award intended for the lowest-income students in the country, in about 24% of cases.
Columbia is cognizant of the issues brought up by the U.S. A. “We have directly addressed those concerns with Middle States and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights today to our accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education,” said Virginia Lam Abrams, a spokesman for Columbia University. Fighting antisemitism on campus is a top priority for Columbia. We continue to collaborate with the federal government to address this issue because we take it seriously. “.”.
The notification comes as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to target prestigious universities that it claims are violating civil rights laws through their antisemitism and diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The Trump administration has launched multiple investigations into Columbia’s handling of student anti-war demonstrations on campus since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, which have resulted in some of the most well-known student anti-war demonstrations in the country.
The school was found to have violated Title VI, the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on race, national origin, or shared ancestry, according to investigations conducted by the departments of Education and Health and Human Services.
