Columbia has drawn ire from all sides of the political spectrum because it was roiled by campus protests final 12 months and offers with the fallout from the Trump Administration this 12 months. Now, its controversy might be impacting the make-up of its future scholar physique.
Columbia Faculty and the Faculty of Engineering and Utilized Science introduced Thursday that it acquired 59,616 purposes for the category of 2029, a year-over-year lower from the earlier applicant pool of 60,248 although nonetheless bigger than the applicant pool from 2023. It’s the primary software cycle for the reason that “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and pro-Palestinian scholar protests broke out final spring, which resulted in New York police storming the campus on the behest of college leaders and arresting dozens of scholars.
“As a matter of longstanding coverage, and out of consideration for the tens of 1000’s of scholars who apply to Columbia, we don’t talk about our applicant pool mid-cycle because it may influence college students and potential candidates,” Samantha Slater, a Columbia College spokesperson, advised TIME when reached for remark. “Nevertheless, we will share that the 2025 admissions cycle ranks among the many highest variety of undergraduate purposes ever. We stay up for welcoming the most recent members of the Columbia undergraduate group this fall.”
A number of different elite schools, together with Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth, all of which noticed related demonstrations by college students, additionally noticed decreases in software numbers this 12 months. Others, like Harvard and Cornell, didn’t share or restricted their public admissions knowledge presently, within the second cycle after the Supreme Court docket’s ruling ending the follow of affirmative motion.
However even amongst those that utilized, current administrative actions at Columbia have some admitted college students weighing whether or not or to not settle for their affords. Earlier this month, the Trump Administration cancelled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, amid an ongoing Division of Training investigation into reviews of antisemitism at Columbia and 4 different establishments. In a letter addressed to Columbia on March 13, the Administration issued an inventory of calls for to the college, together with expelling or issuing multi-year suspensions on college students who participated within the encampments, abolishing the college’s judicial board and centralizing disciplinary motion via the college president’s workplace, banning masks and requiring any masked people to visibly put on their Columbia ID, and empowering the college’s safety pressure with the authority to arrest “agitators.” The letter additionally requested that Columbia place the Center East, South Asian, and African Research division underneath “educational receivership”—through which an exterior administrator would straight oversee the division—for at the least 5 years.
On the identical day, Columbia introduced that it expelled or suspended a number of the college students who participated within the occupation of Hamilton Corridor, a campus constructing, and quickly revoked the levels of others who’ve graduated. And on March 21, the college agreed to a number of different of the calls for. In a 4,000-word letter from its interim president, the college stated that it could, amongst different measures, reform its disciplinary course of and empower 36 campus officers with the authority to make arrests.
A current collection of high-profile immigration actions towards Columbia college students who participated in pro-Palestinian campus activism have additionally shaken some individuals’s confidence within the college. Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate scholar who led negotiations between scholar protesters and college officers final spring, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 8 and had his inexperienced card revoked. ICE has additionally tried to arrest and deport Yunseo Chung, a third-year undergraduate, and Ranjani Srinivasan, a fifth-year PhD scholar.
Greater than 1,400 school and college students at Columbia and Barnard Faculty signed onto a tutorial boycott of Columbia College “in response to the college betraying its elementary accountability to guard college students, defend educational freedom, and promote a local weather of open dialogue and dissent.” The pledge contains boycotting collaborations with school holding administrative positions and educational or cultural occasions held by Columbia or Barnard.
Up to now few weeks, quite a lot of social media customers have made posts or feedback about declining or rescinding acceptance affords, or having withdrawn their purposes, to Columbia. (TIME couldn’t confirm the authenticity of all of the claims in such posts.)
One purported admitted scholar shared a letter they despatched to Columbia explaining why they’re rejecting their provide of admission in a viral submit on X that has since been made non-public. “Whereas I’m honoured and grateful to have been admitted, it’s with nice disappointment and frustration that I need to decline this provide to attend this system,” the letter learn. “I might be remiss to not admit that my resolution is knowledgeable largely by Columbia College’s resolution to capitulate to the far-reaching calls for of the Trump administration.”
One other particular person shared a letter to Columbia explaining why they withdrew their software: “As somebody who’s pursuing a authorized schooling for the safety of my group towards violations of our civil rights and/or liberties, I don’t want to attend a faculty that doesn’t defend their very own.”
In a Reddit submit two weeks in the past, titled “State of affairs simply went from worse to worser,” a consumer shared their resolution to withdraw their software to Columbia’s regulation faculty. “It was my best choice, my dream faculty,” the consumer wrote. “But, within the case the place they might settle for me I couldn’t conscionably enable my above median/seventy fifth stats to contribute to that establishment’s standing.”
“I used to suppose that I shouldn’t should sacrifice a level of that caliber within the metropolis that I like because of the actions of college administration, however their most up-to-date actions (together with however not restricted to diploma revocation and expelling their union president a day earlier than negotiations) present me they’re irredeemable,” the consumer added. “They’ve confirmed they’re keen to sacrifice me and [any] different potential scholar for pennies on their endowment and admittedly I don’t wish to be related to an establishment that may solely be remembered for his or her cowardice throughout this time.”
At the least seven others shared throughout numerous posts and feedback on Reddit that they withdrew their purposes, whereas a number of stated they determined to not apply in any respect for related causes.
In a number of threads posted to Reddit, some admitted college students requested for recommendation on whether or not or not they need to attend given their political beliefs. “I’m a Jewish scholar, and my analysis focuses on Jewish college students in increased schooling. On the identical time, I’m pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist, which makes my place considerably difficult,” one consumer wrote. “Columbia’s current actions,” the consumer continued “make me query the college’s dedication to defending its college students. It appears like an surroundings that will not align with my values, despite the fact that I’ve all the time dreamed of going to Columbia and residing in NYC.” Three others commented that they’ve declined their acceptance affords for related causes.
Others shared considerations that the lower in federal funding may influence their packages, whereas others nonetheless raised considerations about whether or not the college would do sufficient to guard worldwide college students from doable immigration motion. The college’s journalism faculty launched an announcement on March 14 affirming its help for college students’ proper to free speech after Khalil’s arrest and “in protection of First Modification ideas of free speech and free press throughout the political spectrum.”
“Right here at Columbia College Graduate Faculty of Journalism we’re witnessing and experiencing an alarming chill,” the assertion reads. “A few of our school members and college students who’ve coated the protests over the Gaza battle have been the item of smear campaigns and focused on the identical websites that have been used to carry Khalil to the eye of Homeland Safety. President Trump has warned that the hassle to deport Khalil is simply the primary of many.”
A number of feedback throughout posts raised their very own considerations about antisemitism on campus. Final 12 months, the college’s student-run newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, discovered that some Jewish college students declined their affords from Columbia as a consequence of considerations about antisemitism on campus. A number of of the college’s prime donors pulled funding final 12 months in response to the pro-Palestinian protests, and a coalition of U.S. and Israeli residents filed a lawsuit on March 24 towards organizers and supporters of pro-Palestinian actions at Columbia, alleging that they served as Hamas’ “propaganda arm.”
It’s unclear how a lot considerations concerning the political local weather contributed to the slight dip in Columbia’s candidates this 12 months—and a college official famous to TIME {that a} handful of social media posts can’t be considered as statistically consultant of broader tendencies amongst candidates. In the end, whether or not there’s a big change in enrollment received’t be revealed till later this 12 months.
Correction, March 29
The unique model of this story mischaracterized Columbia College’s newest admissions knowledge. The 2025 applicant pool reveals a year-over-year lower, however it isn’t the smallest pool in years.
