A new and explosive lawsuit on behalf of American family members of victims of October 7th and Israeli Columbia students against a variety of Columbia University organizations and students reveals the extent to which Columbia abetted eliminationist anti-semitic, pro-terrorist activity on campus. The most explosive finding or allegation from the lawsuit is that the organization "Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine" reactivated their dormant social media accounts just minutes before the start of the October 7th terrorist attack. The clear implication is that these students were in contact and in league with Hamas.

We've seen enough.

The Trump Administration has frozen some Columbia funding in order to bully the university administration to take action, and it has taken some action. But it's not enough.

The Trump Administration needs to take over the management of Columbia University. It is clearly no longer fit to govern itself. The Federal government must put Columbia University in conservatorship.

Let's talk about the how, and then let's talk about what should happen after.

First, how? There are two ways.

Plan A: The President could use his powers under the Defense Production Act to designate Columbia University—which has lots of research programs in highly sensitive areas!—"national defense infrastructure" and put it under Federal government stewardship.

Okay, that's not very realistic and the Supreme Court would likely shut it down.

Plan B: There are, of course, infinite ways for the Federal government to apply pressure to Columbia. It can do more than withhold grants as the Trump Administration has begun to do. The Federal government, especially, has significant Title IV enforcement powers, and can terminate eligibility for non-compliance.

But the money shot would be withdrawal of tax-exempt status, which would be easy as Bob Jones v. US already gives the government the authority to remove tax-exempt funding from entities which engage in racial discrimination, which is very much the case of universities with DEI programs.

Finally, the President can use the Emergency Economic Powers Act to freeze any Columbia funds that are foreign-linked (which should apply to the endowment, as well as any research labs that receive foreign funding), which would essentially make the university unable to function.

The Trump Administration should use the threat of using all these tools in exchange for Columbia voluntarily agreeing to put itself under Federal receivership.

What would be the point of it?

The point of it is very important, and it is this: elite universities play a social role in a country. They are how a country select and trains its future elites. That country therefore has a direct interest in how those institutions operate.

America's elite universities have adopted a frankly anti-American attitude, enabled anti-American activities and indoctrinated their students in anti-American attitudes. This is not "their right". This has nothing to do with the First Amendment. Ivy League universities derive their global prestige from being part of America.

What would then be done?

We have a few simple prescriptions:

Close all "grievance studies" departments and fire everyone associated with them. This one is a no-brainer.

Fire 95% of academics in non-STEM departments. "Some of them, I assume, are good people." It may be more than 5%. If so they will find good jobs at other universities. It is important to err on the side of reduction.

Appoint small committees of apolitical specialists to review the work of academics in all STEM departments. The specialists should be high level and, while they don't have to be conservatives (indeed it would be better if they were not), they should be known for their freedom from orthodoxy. Jay Bhattacharya, the Stanford physician-scientist and health economist who dared speak out against Covid orthodoxy and has now been appointed to head NIH, is the platonic example of such a person. They are very rare but America must contain three or five per discipline. These committees should review the work of each academic working in each department for two things: politicization, and fraud. "Politicization" is in the eye of the beholder, you'll tell us. Well, it will be in the eye of the reviewing committees. Every academic who throws up a red flag for either of those is fired.

For humanities, hire conservatives; for everything else, hire 28-year-olds. Once the ground has been cleared, time to rebuild. For the humanities disciplines, the best conservatives in the country should be hired. For the non-humanities disciplines, the criterion should not be politics but age. Scientists produce their best—most pathbreaking, most heterodox—work young, and the academic system today is particularly biased against the young, who must struggle for years of fellowships and assistant professorships to ever hope to have the freedom to do research. Give the research labs to hyper-motivated, hungry, heterodox, 28 year old young academics. This is guaranteed to make Columbia a showcase of audacious science.

Reform admissions to the undergraduate program. Admissions should be granted on the basis of a competitive written exam in two parts, one based on the Classic Learning Test, and one a straightforward IQ test, each counting for 50% of the grade. The top students get in, regardless of gender or race (obviously).

Make the Great Books Great Again. Columbia has actually stood out from most elite universities in the US in sticking to a "Great Books"-based core curriculum. Except that, predictably, the list of Great Books has gone woke. Reinstate the actual Great Books, with instructors from Hillsdale, Wyoming Catholic, and Saint John's.

It's popular for kids on the new right today to talk about politics being about "rewarding friends and punishing enemies." It is indeed naive to pretend that that is not part of what politics is. But, while firing a bunch of far-left professors would certainly provide emotional satisfaction, this is not what this proposal is. America badly lacks an elite institution of higher education that is designed to train up students for the American elite of tomorrow. Creating, or re-creating one would be a great legacy for the Trump Administration.

Policy News You Need To Know

#DEI — The Trump Administration's policy to extend asylum to white South Africans threatened by that country's expropriation law, which allows the government to expropriate white people with no compensation and for nebulous reasons, has been heavily criticized, understandably given the overall political context. But the decision is still right on the merits. AfriForum, a South African civil rights organization, has been documenting the systematic abuse of the civil rights of whites in South Africa, and have recently produced a documentary titled "Is Trump Right About South Africa?" We encourage you to watch it if you have time and share it.

SEE ALSO: Our interview with AfriForum Head of Public Relations Ernst Van Zyl (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)

#Budget — Getting rid of C-SALT is clearly gaining steam as a meme. Now the Tax Foundation has a new item on this idea.

#TheEconomy — The JEC Republicans have released their 2025 Economic Report. It is basically a Mitt Romney-era Republican report, warning about spending and debt, pooh-poohing industrial policy, and calling for high-skilled immigration.

#ExecutiveAuthority — President Trump is cutting spending deemed "emergency" as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. $3 billion so far, Semafor reports.

#HigherEd — Model for other states? Utah passes a historic bill installing the "Western Great Books" at all state universities.

#DOGE — Interesting article from Michael N. Peterson about previous attempts by the Reagan and Clinton Administrations to do what DOGE is doing.

#Immigration — What are 287(g)-task-force agreements? Bet you didn't think that would be on the test. It's a blueprint for how local law enforcement agencies can collaborate effectively with ICE, and it's been working wonders in Florida. Ryan Mills has more at NR.

#Immigration — 2025, HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced a significant policy change regarding taxpayer-funded housing for illegal aliens in the United States. In partnership with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Turner signed the 'American Housing Programs for American Citizens' Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which aims to end the allocation of public housing resources to individuals residing in the country illegally. The key points of this policy change include: termination of taxpayer-funded housing benefits for illegal aliens; establishment of an interagency partnership between HUD and DHS to facilitate data sharing; deployment of a full-time HUD staff member to assist operations at the Incident Command Center (ICC); implementation of measures to ensure that public housing programs prioritize American citizens.