COlumbia has pulled anger from all sides of the political spectrum since he was disrupted by campus demonstrations last year and deals with the benefits of the Trump administration this year. Now his controversy could have an impact on the composition of his future student body.
The Columbia College and the Engineering and Applied Sciences School announced Thursday that it has received 59,616 requests for the promotion of 2029, marking the smallest pool of candidates for years. This is the first cycle of candidacy since the demonstrations of pro-Palestinian students broke out last spring, which led New York police to take the campus at the request of university leaders and to arrest dozens of students.
Several other elite colleges, including Yale, Brown and Dartmouth, who have all seen similar demonstrations of students, have also seen a decrease in the number of applications this year. Others, like Harvard and Cornell, have not shared or limited their public admission data at present, in the second cycle after the decision of the Supreme Court ending the practice of positive action.
But even among those who have applied, recent administrative actions in Columbia have admissions to laid whether or not they accept their offers. Earlier this month, the Trump administration canceled $ 400 million in federal subsidies and contracts with Columbia, in the midst of an underway investigation into the Ministry of Education on anti-Semitism reports in Columbia and four other institutions. In a letter addressed to Columbia on March 13, the Trump administration published a list of requests to the university, in particular by expelling or making multi -year suspensions on students who participated in the camps, abolishing the school justice council and centralizing disciplinary measures through the office of the president of the university, by prohibiting mask and Their Columbia ID, and to rely on the force of administration security. The letter also asked Columbia to place the Middle East, South Asia and the African Studies Department under “academic creation” – in which an external administrator would directly supervise the department – for at least five years.
The same day, Columbia announced that she had expelled or suspended some of the students who participated in the occupation of Hamilton Hall, a campus building, and temporarily revoked the diplomas of other people who graduated. And on March 21, the university accepted several other requests. In a letter of 4,000 words from its acting president, the university said that it would reform, among other things, to reform its disciplinary process and empower 36 campus officers with the power to arrest.
A recent series of high-level immigration actions against Columbia students who participated in the pro-Palestinian campus activism also shaken the confidence of certain admitted. Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who led negotiations between student demonstrators and university officials last spring, was arrested by American immigration and customs agents on March 8 and his green card was revoked. After his arrest, Ice also tried to arrest and expel Yunseo Chung, a third year student of the undergraduate, and Ranjani Srinivasan, a 5th year doctoral student.
More than 1,400 professors and students from Columbia and Barnard College signed a university boycott of the University of Columbia “in response to the university betraying its fundamental responsibility to protect students, defend academic freedom and promote an open and dissent climate.” The commitment includes the boycott of collaborations with teachers occupying administrative positions and academic or cultural events organized by Columbia or Barnard.
In recent weeks, a number of social media users have made publications or comments on the decline or cancellation of their acceptance offers or withdrawal from their requests. One of these admitteds shared a letter they sent to Columbia explaining why they reject their admission offer in an article on X which has since been rendered. “Although I am honored and grateful to have been admitted, it is with great disappointment and frustration that I must refuse this offer to attend the program,” said the letter. “I would be neglected not to admit that my decision is largely informed by the decision of the University of Columbia to capitulate the large -scale requests of the Trump administration.”
Another person shared a letter to Columbia explaining why they withdrew her request: “As a person who pursues legal education for the protection of my community against violations of our civil and / or freedom rights, I do not wish to attend a school that does not protect his.”
In a reddit position two weeks ago, entitled “The situation went from the worst for worsening”, a user shared his decision to withdraw his request from the Faculty of Law of Columbia. “It was my first choice, my dream school,” wrote the user. “However, in the event that they accept me, I could not be aware of my median statistics / 75th above to contribute to the position of this institution.”
“I thought that I should not have to sacrifice a degree of this caliber in the city that I like because of the actions of the university administration, but their most recent actions (including, but without limiting themselves, the revocation of the diplomas and the expulsion of their president of the union one day before the negotiations) show me that they are irremediable,” added the user. “They proved that they were ready to sacrifice me and [any] Other potential students for the money on their endowment and frankly, I do not want to be associated with an institution that will only remember for their cowardice during this period. »»
At least seven others shared in various positions and comments on Reddit that they withdrew their requests, while many declared that they had decided not to apply for similar reasons.
In several sons published on Reddit, admitted has asked for advice on whether or not they should attend their political opinions. “I am a Jewish student, and my research focuses on Jewish students in higher education. “The recent actions of Columbia”, continued the user “made me question the university’s commitment to protect his students. It looks like an environment that may not align with my values, even if I have always dreamed of going to Columbia and living in New York. ” Three others said they had refused their acceptance offers for similar reasons.
Others have shared concerns that the reduction in federal financing could have an impact on their programs, while others have still expressed their concerns as to whether the school would do enough to protect international students from a possible immigration action. The University’s School of Journalism published a statement on March 14 confirming its support for students’ right to freedom of expression after the arrest of Khalil and “to defend the principles of the first amendment of freedom of expression and the free press through the political spectrum”.
“Here at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, we are witnessing and experimenting with alarming cold,” the statement said. “Some of our teachers and students who covered demonstrations against the Gaza War have been the subject of defamation campaigns and targeted on the same sites that have been used to bring Khalil to the attention of internal security. President Trump warned that the effort to expel Khalil is only the first of many. ”
Several comments in messages have raised their own concerns about anti -Semitism on campus. Last year, the newspaper managed by university students, the Columbia Spectatornoted that some Jewish students refused their columbia offers due to concerns about anti -Semitism on campus. Several of the main donors of the university led to funding last year in response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and a coalition of American and Israeli citizens filed a complaint on March 24 against the organizers and supporters of pro-Palestinian actions in Columbia, alleging that they were the “propaganda” of Hamas.
It is not known how many concerns about Columbia’s response to student activism contributed to the decline in its admission rate this year. If there is an important change in the registration numbers will not be revealed until later this year.
Time has contacted Columbia University to comment.
