Photo Credit: Stijn Debrouwere / Flickr
Last Friday, the NY Times’ Matthew Haag and Katherine Rosman solved a riddle that had bothered me for more than a month.
A little over a week ago, a letter from three federal agencies gave Columbia University one week to implement major reforms in student discipline, policing, and admissions. The letter outlined several demands, including expelling students who protested in support of Hamas following the October 7 atrocities. Columbia officials were told that these changes must be made before further discussions on the potential withdrawal of $400 million in federal funds could proceed, according to the Trump administration’s letter.
A week before that, we reported that President Donald Trump had kept his promise to the Jewish community: his administration announced that it was cutting $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University in response to persistent antisemitism against its Jewish student population.
“The immediate cancellation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,” the US General Services Administration announced.
Few have asked themselves what was the reason the administration had picked withholding $400 million as the proper punishment for Columbia’s failure to curb its students’ antisemitic enthusiasm. Why not $500 million? Or $300 million? Or any of the figures in between?
The first confrontation between Trump and Columbia stemmed from a high-stakes real estate deal. The roots of the conflict date back to the late 1990s when Columbia University, like many New York institutions, faced a pressing issue: it needed more space. To stay competitive for research grants, Columbia required additional room to accommodate more scientists and laboratories.
Trump proposed a solution with an undeveloped plot on the Upper West Side, nestled between Lincoln Center and the Hudson River. Known as Riverside South, Trump rebranded the property as Trump Place.
This site was part of a much larger 77-acre parcel Trump had acquired in the early 1970s, a former freight yard that stood as the largest undeveloped tract in Manhattan. By the early 1990s, Trump had struggled to develop the land, burdened with over $800 million in debt, much of it at exorbitant interest rates, making it difficult to meet bank payments.
By 2000, Trump had turned his attention to Columbia, which he had learned was in search of more space. The idea quickly piqued the interest of several university trustees and administrators. For more than a year, discussions were held regarding potential development plans, primarily with the Trump Organization and occasionally with Trump himself. Trump even coined a name for the potential project: “Columbia Prime.”
Throughout the negotiations, Trump floated various price points, reaching up to $400 million, according to the New York Times, which cited a Columbia official from that time.
Ultimately, Lee Bollinger, who served as Columbia’s president from 2002 to 2023, decided against pursuing Trump’s property and instead chose to expand Columbia’s campus on adjacent land.
So, it comes as little surprise that, when President Trump sought a way to retaliate against the university that had rejected him, the figure that emerged was precisely $400 million.
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