Trump intervention at Columbia alarms defenders of academic freedom

The Trump administration has delivered an extraordinary ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently end federal funding to the school unless it cedes control of an international studies department and implements sweeping changes to other policies. Federal officials wrote in a letter Thursday that the university must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years.” It must also ban masks on campus meant to hide the wearer's identity, adopt a new definition of antisemitism and abolish its current process for disciplining students. The letter marks a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to impose sweeping changes on academic institutions.