Education Dept. says Columbia fails to meet accreditation standards

The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that Columbia University has failed to meet the standards for accreditation because the Ivy League school “is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws” for allegedly tolerating harassment of Jewish students on campus.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights notified the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, an accrediting institution that Columbia belongs to, of the alleged violation.

The department noted that by federal regulations, “accreditors are required to notify any member institution about a federal noncompliance finding and establish a plan to come into compliance.”

“If a university fails to come into compliance within a specified period, an accreditor must take appropriate action against its member institution,” the department said.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in a statement, said, “After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University’s leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus.”

“This is not only immoral, but also unlawful,” McMahon said.

“Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants,” she said.

“Just as the Department of Education has an obligation to uphold federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors have an obligation to ensure member institutions abide by their standards.”

A Columbia spokesperson said that the university, whose campus is in upper Manhattan, “is aware of the concerns raised by” the department to its accreditor, “and we have addressed those concerns directly with Middle States.

“Columbia is deeply committed to combating antisemitism on our campus,” the spokesperson said. “We take this issue seriously and are continuing to work with the federal government to address it.”

The department’s Office for Civil Rights in early February began investigating Columbia for possible discrimination or enabling harassment of Jewish students and faculty in violation of Title VI, the section of the Civil Rights Act that bars recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin.