The Trump administration’s battle with higher education escalated on Wednesday with the announcement that Columbia University is at risk of losing accreditation for violation of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights “determined that Columbia University acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students, thereby violating Title VI,”  the Education Department said in a statement, noting that the Ivy League institution “no longer appears to meet the Commission’s [sic] accreditation standards.” 

Columbia is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a voluntary membership organization recognized by the Department of Education. Accreditation is required for a university to receive federal funding, for its students to receive public student loans and to be recognized by employers.

In a statement to Jewish Insider, a spokesperson for Columbia said that the university is “aware of the concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights today to our accreditor… and we have addressed those concerns directly with Middle States.”

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

The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from JI inquiring whether any specific recent incidents led to the determination.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the department’s announcement that Columbia’s actions on antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks have been “immoral” and “unlawful.”

McMahon said the department will work with the accreditor “to ensure Columbia’s compliance with accreditation standards including compliance with federal civil rights laws.”

Columbia University has faced intense scrutiny from the federal government since President Donald Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. 

In February, the Trump administration directed that an investigation into violations of Title VI be opened. A month later, it pulled $400 million from Columbia’s federal funding over its failure to crack down on antisemitism, marking the first time a university has faced a cutoff of federal funds since Title VI was implemented six decades ago. 

Columbia responded by entering ongoing negotiations with the government. The agreement included putting the school’s Middle Eastern studies department under a “receivership,” which involves closer oversight from an external body.

Several other elite institutions faced similar funding freezes in the weeks that followed, including Harvard University, which responded by suing the Trump administration.  

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) reintroduced legislation last week targeting universities that have failed to stem the surge of antisemitism taking place on college campuses.

Scott originally introduced the Preventing Antisemitic Harassment on Campus Act last October with then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), now the secretary of state, as anti-Israel encampments had begun reemerging on some campuses ahead of the presidential election. 

The legislation would expand Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which currently bans discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin — to include religious discrimination and implement “clear and escalating penalties for institutions of higher education (IHEs) that are repeat violators.” It would also direct the Department of Education to “oversee private lawsuits against colleges receiving federal financial aid related to antisemitism.”

“Following Iran-backed Hamas’s attack on Israel, we saw a drastic rise in antisemitic attacks in the United States with anti-Israel mobs taking over campuses, and we’ve seen an unacceptable failure from leadership at higher education institutions to take action to condemn these mobs and protect Jewish students. Jewish students were afraid to go to class, fearful of the violence these pro-terrorist mobs threatened. That can’t happen,” Scott said in a statement.

The legislation was reintroduced on Friday, the same day that the Trump administration announced it would cut $400 million from Columbia University’s federal funding due to the school’s handling of antisemitic demonstrations that have roiled the campus since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. 

Earlier last week, Trump posted on social media that “all Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests.” 

“President Trump is completely right to withhold federal funding from higher education institutions that refuse to enforce the law on their campuses and enable antisemitic hate to flourish, and I’m proud to lead this bill to build on his efforts,” Scott said.