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The Trump administration told Columbia University’s accreditor on Wednesday that the Ivy League school violated civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students, putting its status at risk.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that Columbia was “in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission,” the agency announced. It pointed to the commission’s policies stating that accredited schools must be in “compliance with all applicable government laws and regulations.”
The departments of Education and Health and Human Services determined on May 22 that Columbia “acted with deliberate indifference towards discriminatory harassment against Jewish students.” That puts the university in violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects students based on national origin, including shared ancestry.
Without accreditation, colleges and universities are not eligible for federal financial aid, including student loans, and employers are less likely to see a degree from an unaccredited institution as legitimate. While university accreditation is meant to hinge on a school’s education quality, accreditors—who are overseen by the Education Department—have increasingly considered other factors, like DEI policies.
