Rashid Khalidi, in open letter published by the Guardian, accuses university of ‘capitulating’ with $200m settlement

Dani Anguiano in Los Angeles
Fri 1 Aug 2025 06.00 EDT

“Although I have retired, I was scheduled to teach a large lecture course on this topic in the fall as a “special lecturer” but I cannot do so under the conditions Columbia has accepted by capitulating to the Trump administration in June,” Khalidi wrote.

Columbia announced last week that it would pay more than $200m in a settlement with the federal government after the White House claimed the university failed to adequately address alleged antisemitism on campus amid protests over the Israel-Gaza war, and threatened to pull significant funding.