Trump: universities involved in ‘illegal protests’ will lose their budgets
On March 4, 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that he would stop federal funding for universities that allow “illegal” protests. This statement is directly related to the situation at Columbia University in New York, where pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been taking place since 2023, leading to accusations of anti-Semitism. Trump also threatened that students participating in such actions would be arrested or expelled, and foreign students could be deported.
In particular, the US government is considering freezing $51.4 million in contracts with Columbia University due to its inability to prevent anti-Semitic incidents on campus. Additionally, an interagency group, including the Department of Education and Health, is reviewing all federal grants and contracts totaling more than $5 billion to ensure that the university complies with civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, national, or ethnic origin.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon noted that the protests have paralyzed the educational process and deprived Jewish students of their right to education, questioning the university’s right to further funding. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. called anti-Semitism a “spiritual and moral disease,” accusing leading universities of becoming hotbeds of this problem due to censorship and the culture of “cancellation.”
