Trump’s administration gained the release of the lawsuit by two trade unions that tried to stop the detainment of $ 400 million in the Federal Funds from Columbia University.
The judge who dismissed this case stated that the groups lacked the legal right to the court and stated that while Columbia was the recipient of grants, the school itself was not a participant in the case.
Financing pulled out the Campus Protests
The US Association of University Professors and the US Federation of Teachers sued the Republican administration after the Minister of Education in the US Linda McMahon announced that the administration had pulled out grants and contracts from the school after a series of pro-Palestinian protests on academic land, Bloomberg reported.
On Monday, the US district judge Mary Kay has dismissed a lawsuit looking for an order to restore financing, but gave the unions a chance to revise and add their claims. Later on the day, the unions filed a notice that they would appeal.
Tension grows between the White House and Columbia University
The decision comes in the middle of a wider conflict between Trump’s administration and higher education institutions. At the beginning of this month, the Ministry of Education stated that it plans to cancel the accreditation of Columbia and claims that the university no longer meets federal standards.
Officials concluded that the school violates anti-discrimination laws, the latest efforts of Trump’s administration to punish schools for their solution to Pro-Palestinian protests, Bloomberg said.
What was the argument of the judge for the refusal of the court proceedings?
The judge stated that trade unions “put into a quarrel” between administration and Columbia, which “Columbia wishes to solve cooperation”, according to Bloomberg.
President Donald Trump and McMahon have previously suggested that negotiations with Columbia are heading in the right direction, especially compared to another Ivy League institution, Harvard University, which questioned the administration decision to cancel its federal financing and cancel the receipt of international students in court.
“It is disappointing, but by no means the end of the fight,” President AAUP Todd Wolfson said in his statement. “The threats and coercion of Trump’s administration at Columbia University are part of an authoritarian agenda that goes far beyond Columbia,” he said.
(Tagstotranslate) Trump’s administration
