“Half of this stuff you can’t just do and the other half is insane. If the federal government can show up and demand a university department be shut down or restructured, then we don’t have universities in this country.”
Joseph Howley, a professor of classics at Columbia.
The Trump administration has delivered an extraordinary ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently end federal funding to the Ivy League school unless it cedes control of an international studies department and implements sweeping changes to other campus policies.
In a letter sent Thursday night, federal officials said the university must immediately place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years.”
It must also ban masks on campus meant to conceal the wearer’s identity “or intimidate others,” adopt a new definition of antisemitism, abolish its current process for disciplining students and deliver a plan to “reform undergraduate admissions, international recruiting, and graduate admissions practices.”
Connect the Dots 101 
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