Anti-Israel professors are crying foul after the Trump administration yanked $400M from Columbia University for failing to protect its Jewish students.

On Tuesday, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and American Federation of Teachers filed a federal lawsuit challenging the White House’s decisive action against the Ivy League institution that has been plagued by antisemitic protests since Hamas’s brutal October 7 attack on Israel.

“The Trump administration’s threats and coercion at Columbia are part of a clear authoritarian playbook meant to crush academic freedom and critical research in American higher education,” complained Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP in a statement accompanying the lawsuit.

Earlier this month, Trump officials made it clear to Columbia they wouldn’t even talk about restoring funding unless the university met their demands on campus security, admissions policies, and academic affairs.

On Friday, interim president Katrina Armstrong finally announced new campus security measures and disciplinary rules, such as a ban on face masks during campus protests. Armstrong also agreed to review the school’s controversial Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS), which became a flashpoint after professor Joseph Massad described Hamas’s attack on Israel as a “stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance.”

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon praised Armstrong’s efforts.

“She said she knew that this was her responsibility to make sure that children on her campus were safe,” McMahon said. “She wanted to make sure there was no discrimination of any kind. She wanted to address any systemic issues that were identified relative to the antisemitism on campus.”

“We are on the right track now to make sure the final negotiations to unfreeze that money will be in place.”

For Jewish students who’ve faced 17 months of harassment at elite institutions nationwide, it’s a long time coming. Federal officials have also launched investigations into at least 59 other universities for similar failures to address antisemitism.