Columbia opens £16m fund for Jewish staff after ruling on campus antisemitism
University launches major compensation scheme after US investigators found it failed to protect Jewish and Israeli employees
Columbia University has opened a £16 million compensation fund for Jewish and Israeli employees who were harassed during the turmoil that followed Hamas’s 7 October attacks, as the institution attempts to regain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen federal funding.
In a message to staff on Thursday, Columbia confirmed that employees may file claims if they experienced harassment or discrimination “based on their religion (Jewish), race (Jewish), or national origin (Israeli)” in the period after October 2023. The scheme covers allegations ranging from verbal hostility and exclusion from academic or professional activity to retaliatory treatment or failures by administrators to act on complaints – mirroring the concerns repeatedly raised by Jewish faculty and students during months of intense campus unrest.
Anti-Israel protests at Columbia became a national flashpoint, with Jewish students reporting being told to “go back to Poland” and accused of “killing children” as large encampments took over university lawns for weeks. Classes moved online, police were called in to clear demonstrations, and governance bodies were forced into emergency mode as tensions escalated.
A Department of Education investigation later concluded that Columbia “acted with deliberate indifference” toward harassment targeting its Jewish community, prompting the Trump administration in March to suspend about $400 million (£318 million) in federal grants and contracts.
To restore compliance, the university reached a sweeping settlement in July requiring it to pay $200 million (£160 million), adopt a working definition of antisemitism that recognises certain forms of anti-Zionist harassment, strengthen its Title VI and Title VII procedures, overhaul disciplinary processes that previously allowed protest-related misconduct to go unpunished, and introduce mandatory antisemitism training in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. Columbia will also be subject to ongoing federal monitoring.
Acting President Claire Shipman said the claims programme is intended not only to compensate affected employees but to demonstrate the institution’s commitment to ensuring Jewish and Israeli staff are protected going forward.
The filing period is open until 23 July 2025, giving workers time to gather documentation and submit their experiences for independent review.
The launch of the fund marks one of the most significant university responses to antisemitism since 7 October and underscores the growing federal pressure on campuses to protect their Jewish communities.
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