Trump Officials Target Columbia Accreditation Over Pro-Palestine Protests

Student demonstrators at Columbia University in 2024. — Student demonstrators at Columbia University in 2024.
Photographer: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

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By Akayla Gardner

June 4, 2025 at 7:11 PM UTC

Updated on

June 4, 2025 at 9:59 PM UTC

The Education Department said Columbia University no longer appeared to meet accreditation standards after concluding that the school is in violation of anti-discrimination laws, the latest effort by the Trump administration to target elite schools over their handling of pro-Palestinian protests.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the school’s leadership “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus” after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.