During an interview with CBS News on Monday, President of the American Association of University Professors Todd Wolfson said that while schools have to do a better job of handling student protests, “it’s extortion what the Trump administration did to Columbia and what they’re trying to do to other universities” by threatening to withhold federal funds from them.
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett asked about the Trump administration’s DEI programs, antisemitism on college campuses, and increased public safety.
Wolfson responded that legitimate research programs are being hit by the anti-DEI effort and that there are issues with antisemitism and other bigotry on campus, but there’s a process to deal with those issues that the Trump administration isn’t following and Columbia lost funds that have nothing to do with antisemitism.
After turning to the safety issue, Wolfson stated, “[C]ertainly, like, we have to do a better job of figuring out how to, both discipline students, but also allow for freedom of speech on our campuses, and I don’t think that the attack on our research programs has anything to do with that. I think it’s extortion what the Trump administration did to Columbia and what they’re trying to do to other universities.”
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