Columbia University lays off nearly 180 employees after Trump administration funding cuts
Columbia University is laying off nearly 180 employees following federal funding cuts. It comes after the Trump administration canceled more than $400 million in funding over the university's handling of campus protests.
"Columbia's leadership continues discussions with the federal government in support of resuming activity on these research awards and additional other awards that have remained active, but unpaid. We are working on and planning for every eventuality, but the strain in the meantime, financially and on our research mission, is intense," the university's Acting President Claire Shipman wrote in an announcement Tuesday.
Termination notices were sent to 20% of employees whose research was funded in part by the canceled grants, including studies on maternal mortality, childhood obesity and long COVID treatment.
"We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources. Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard," the announcement continued.
Marcel Agueros, an astronomy professor said the layoffs, while expected, were "dispiriting" for the faculty, and he said it will take years to undo the damage already inflicted by the cuts.
"When there's an interruption in funding, people have to leave, new people can't be hired, some initiatives have to be put on hold, others need to be stopped, so research stops moving forward," he said.
Agueros is the secretary of Columbia's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration arguing the cuts are unlawful.
Where things stand with Columbia funding cuts
In March, the Trump administration pulled the funding over what it described as the Ivy League school's failure to combat antisemitism on campus.
Columbia was at the forefront of the college protests over the war in Gaza last spring. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment on the main lawn and some occupied a campus building, sparking a wave of similar protests around the world and leading to hundreds of arrests.
Within weeks of the funding cuts, Columbia agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Trump administration as a starting point for restoring the funding.
Among the requirements was overhauling the university's student disciplinary process, banning campus protesters from wearing masks, barring demonstrations from academic buildings, adopting a new definition of antisemitism and putting the Middle Eastern studies program under the supervision of a vice provost who would have a say over curriculum and hiring.
After Columbia announced the changes, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the university was "on the right track," but declined to say when or if Columbia's funding would be restored.
"We are deeply committed, at Columbia, to the critical work of invention, innovation and discovery. The excellence of our research portfolio is fundamental to our identity, and we are determined to support it," Tuesday's announcement read.
