Columbia, Brown back Harvard challenge to Trump research funding cuts without mentioning campus Jew-hatred
Columbia University, whose own antisemitism task force found that Jew-hatred on campus was “serious and pervasive,” has joined 35 other colleges and universities, including Brown University, in supporting Harvard College’s challenge to the Trump administration’s termination and withholding of federal research funding.The universities filed an amicus brief on July 22 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, urging the court to affirm a lower-court ruling in Harvard’s favor. The administration froze or terminated billions of dollars in federal grants and contracts after Harvard rejected demands that the administration said were intended, in part, to address antisemitism on campus.The 29-page brief, filed by former U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., focuses almost entirely on the importance of federal funding to academic scientific research. It does not mention antisemitism.The brief specifically argues that the government cannot impose “sweeping terminations” based on an administration’s concern about “a single particular…
Columbia and Brown Universities, alongside 34 other institutions, have supported Harvard College's challenge against the Trump administration's termination of federal research funding. The universities filed an amicus brief on July 22 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, arguing that the government cannot impose "sweeping terminations" based on concerns about "a single particular aspect" of a university's conduct, "even if that concern is justified." The brief, however, notably omits any mention of antisemitism, which was the administration's stated reason for the funding cuts to Harvard, Columbia, and Brown.
"Antisemitism is the cost of doing research."
Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, criticized this omission, stating that the universities are effectively admitting that "antisemitism is the cost of doing research." Columbia's own antisemitism task force found "serious and pervasive" Jew-hatred on campus, leading to a resolution with the Trump administration in July 2025 that restored funding after the university agreed to pay $200 million and establish a $21 million settlement fund. Brown also reached a similar agreement to restore its funding.
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