Editorial Board
WSJ, Mar. 23, 2025
“Conservatives should also be wary of government dictation of curricula because the left will do the same thing if it returns to power.”
Columbia University’s decision Friday to bend to the Trump Administration’s governance demands has shocked the academy far and wide, and it is an unprecedented sanction. But perhaps it will also shock our academic elites into recognizing that they have courted this political backlash by too often abandoning their central mission of free inquiry.
The Trump Administration withdrew $400 million in funding from Columbia and issued a list of demands as the price of restoring the money. Columbia’s president, Katrina Armstrong, seemingly agreed to every one in an extraordinary four-page letter to the school community. Many in academia are calling this an act of surrender, but she had little choice if she wants the money.
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Many of the steps Columbia is now promising should have been made long ago in its own best interest. Restricting masks means rule-breakers have to take responsibility for their actions. Clear rules—clearly enforced—about time, place and manner restrictions on campus speech will raise the cost for those who want to block speakers they dislike.
The school will also incorporate into formal policy the definition of antisemitism recommended by Columbia’s own Antisemitism Taskforce last year, which makes you wonder why it hasn’t already. And it will adopt so-called institutional neutrality “institution-wide.” This means the school itself, and presumably academic departments, won’t take sides on political controversies of the day….SOURCE