[Source: Reuters]

A deadline is looming for Columbia University to respond to nine demands on tightening restrictions on campus protests that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration says are preconditions for opening talks on restoring $400 million in suspended federal funding.

Among the unusual demands, the administration wants the New York university to ban face masks on campus and seek arrest powers for its security employees. It also demands that Columbia reform its student admissions policies and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which lists certain criticisms of Israel as examples of antisemitism.

Trump’s administration is also demanding that the university place its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership for at least five years, taking control away from its faculty.

A two-page letter addressed to Dr. Katrina Armstrong, the school’s interim president, and Columbia’s trustees sent on March 13 spelling out the conditions did not explain why receivership was one of the demands.

The administration extended a Thursday deadline for Columbia’s response to the end of Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Spokespeople for Columbia and the three government agencies that sent the letter did not respond to questions on Thursday.

The face-off between the private university and the White House is an extraordinary test of the extent of a president’s executive powers.

Columbia’s response is being watched by other schools the administration has sanctioned as it advances its policy objectives in areas ranging from campus protests to transgender sports and diversity initiatives.

Some professors and students have denounced the administration’s actions as an assault on academic freedoms and the independence of higher education. Trump says he is trying to eliminate “anti-American insanity,” Marxism, and “radical left” sentiment from universities.

Trump has singled out Columbia repeatedly since returning to the White House in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled its campus last year. The Ivy League university’s lawns filled with tent encampments and noisy rallies against the U.S. government’s support of Israel. Pro-Israel counter-protests were also frequent.

Trump and some pro-Israel lawmakers in Congress say the pro-Palestinian protests intimidated Jewish students and staff, and accuse Columbia of allowing antisemitic harassment.

The university has defended itself by saying it has worked to balance freedom of expression without tolerating antisemitism or other prejudice. Protesters, including some Jewish students, say criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.

The American Association of University Professors, some Columbia faculty and students and civil rights groups have accused Trump of authoritarianism and violating constitutional rights to free speech and due process.

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