AS PREDICTED - Columbia University Caves to Illegal Demands

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Columbia University reportedly will yield to almost a dozen onerous changes the Trump administration has demanded as preconditions for even opening discussions to possibly restore some $400 million in federal grants already cut off, and more than a billion dollars in future cutoffs.

Putting aside many arguments that the funds cutoff at Columbia - and perhaps also others at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins - are unfair, unprecedented, infringe academic freedom, imperil higher education in the U.S., and may be unconstitutional, the demand letter has several serious legal defects, argues public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

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Professor Banzhaf, who has won several legal battles involving the federal government, nevertheless warns that the legal defects are no guarantee that courts will restore the funds in the immediate future, much less that Columbia's funding will be protected in the long run.

Here are some of the clear legal defects in the demand letter.

The applicable statute, Title VI [42 U.S. Code § 2000d] requires that there first be "an express finding on the record, after opportunity for hearing," of any alleged failure to comply with the statute.

The statute also requires that "a full written report" must be submitted to House and Senate committees at least 30 days before the cutoff become effective.

Furthermore, before any cutoff can occur, it must have been "determined that compliance cannot be secured by voluntary means."

These requirements, although procedural in nature, are nevertheless very important, because they do not allow for any discretion or "shades of grey."

However, whether or not there has been an express finding on the record, whether there has been an opportunity for a hearing, if there exists a full written report, whether of not that report has been submitted as required, and whether compliance might be secured by voluntary means, are not matters of discretion or judgment left to agencies.

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But given that many of this new administration's actions seem to be taken without compliance with applicable legal standards, and its ability to stall and require Columbia to wage a long, expensive, and perhaps ultimately futile battle to protect funding essential for its survival, caving it to these onerous demands may nevertheless be a wise course, he says.

Indeed, when the potential losses are very high even when highly unlikely, compliance may be the wisest option.

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf