SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
More than 70 student protesters at Columbia University are being disciplined for their participation in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in May.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This comes as university officials continue to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration over hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen research funds.
PFEIFFER: Education reporter Jessica Gould of member station WNYC is with us for details. Good morning, Jessica.
JESSICA GOULD, BYLINE: Hi.
PFEIFFER: Recap for us what that spring protest was about and then how the university responded then and now.
GOULD: Sure. So towards the end of last semester, a group of students protesting Israel's military actions in Gaza took over a section of the library at Columbia. They occupied a reading room to call attention to the deaths and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And they chanted, and there was some vandalism. And it was a disruption to the study period before finals. Ultimately, the police came and cleared the building, and we learned this week that Columbia has suspended or expelled many of these 70 protesters. And this is significant because we know the Trump administration has been watching how universities handle protests, and that's part of its calls to universities to combat antisemitism. The administration focused first on Columbia and, as we've seen, is putting pressure on Harvard and others as well.
PFEIFFER: Right, and part of that pressure is withholding huge amounts of federal funding for the university to do research. Columbia's trying to get that money restored. What is the status of those money restoration talks?
GOULD: Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, says in a letter to the school community that they're working to make improvements to the campus climate, including addressing antisemitism. She said the fact that Columbia is getting this pressure from the government doesn't make those problems on campus any less real. Many of Columbia's Jewish students have said they face discrimination and hate, especially since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel nearly two years ago. And Muslim students have also said they've faced harassment.
PFEIFFER: Go into a bit more detail about the steps the university is taking to address antisemitism, and then whether this is a direct response to the Trump administration's criticism.
GOULD: Yeah. Columbia has been clear that it's made the choice to work with the federal government on an agreement, and they've said that they're continuing to work toward that goal. So there have been changes to protest rules, campus policing, you know, disciplinary policies. That's what this is about here. And the university has also outlined new partnerships with Jewish groups. It's also adopting a new definition of antisemitism, which is from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. But there's some criticism of that decision. Some faculty and students worry that this new definition, you know, equates some criticism of Israel with discrimination against Jews, and they worry about that chilling free speech. I also continue to hear from many students and faculty, including Jewish students and faculty, who warn that the Trump administration is using antisemitism as a pretext to control universities. And they worry that won't reduce antisemitism and might even make it worse.
PFEIFFER: That is Jessica Gould from member station WNYC in New York City. Jessica, thank you.
GOULD: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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