Columbia Expands Efforts to Fight Antisemitism as Trump Deal Seems Near

Columbia University announced on Tuesday that it will make additional reforms to combat antisemitism on campus, including by formally adopting a contentious definition of antisemitism that classifies some criticisms of the state of Israel as antisemitic.

The changes, some of which have been long sought by pro-Israel Jewish organizations, come ahead of a possible deal with the Trump administration to restore more than $400 million in research funding that was frozen as a result of allegations that Columbia was not doing enough to curb antisemitism on campus.

That agreement, which could come as early as this week, is likely to require Columbia to pay a fine of hundreds of millions of dollars to settle antisemitism claims. It is likely to also require further reforms in exchange for reopening the federal funding spigot, two people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times last week.

The latest efforts to fight antisemitism were disclosed in a letter to the Columbia community from Claire Shipman, the acting president.

“In my view, any government agreement we reach is only a starting point for change,” she wrote. “Committing to reform on our own is a more powerful path. It will better enable us to recognize our shortcomings and create lasting change.”

Ms. Shipman announced that the changes would include formally incorporating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism into the work of a recently established office at Columbia that considers complaints of discrimination and discriminatory harassment.