A federal judge has upheld the Trump administration’s freeze on federal funding for Columbia University.
Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the Southern District of New York wrote in her decision, “Our democracy cannot very well function if individual judges issue extraordinary relief to every plaintiff who clamors to object to executive action. Neither the executive branch nor the legislature ever awarded the grants and contracts at issue to plaintiffs or any of their members.”
Vyskocil noted that the “appropriate” plaintiff in the case is Columbia University, not the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
“The funding that Plaintiffs ask this Court to commandeer was awarded to Columbia, which is conspicuously absent from this case. If any funds have been wrongfully withheld, such funds may be recovered at the end of a successful lawsuit by the appropriate plaintiff in an appropriate forum,” the judge wrote.
“Although Plaintiffs contend that they will suffer irreparable harm without preliminary relief, they did not move for a temporary restraining order or request expedited briefing of their motion for a preliminary injunction,” the judge added. “Rather, approximately a month after the announcement of the termination of the $400 million in federal funding to Columbia, Plaintiffs filed their motion for a preliminary injunction.”
Upon canceling the $400 million in grants in March, the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) said in a joint statement that the cancellations stem from the university’s “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
The AAUP declared it will continue to fight the Trump administration’s funding cuts.
