Ohio State University president: Ivy League presidents 'in survival mode, quite frankly'

The Ohio State University (OSU) President Ted Carter said on Sunday that he thinks Ivy League schools are in “survival mode,” when asked about Columbia University’s settlement with the Trump administration.

In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan asked Carter whether he’s troubled by the “precedent” that the settlement sets and whether he would have agreed to a similar deal to resolve a hypothetical dispute with the administration.

“I can't speak to those institutions because I'm not leading them,” Carter responded.

“I know both President Shipman and some of the other Ivy League presidents are colleagues, and they're having to do, I think, what I would call, be in survival mode, quite frankly,” he said, referring to acting Columbia University President Claire Shipman.

“We're not going through any of that here at Ohio State, and nor do I think that we will,” Carter added.

Columbia agreed to pay $221 million to restore the more than $400 million in federal funding that was blocked by the administration, according to the settlement announced July 21.

In cutting off Columbia’s funding, the Trump administration originally cited alleged inaction on antisemitism, though Education Secretary Linda McMahon pointed to more ideological motives in an interview after the settlement was announced.

“This is a monumental victory for conservatives who wanted to do things on these elite campuses for a long time because we had such far left-leaning professors,” McMahon said on Fox Business Network.

The university, which saw some of the nation’s most active pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations amid the war in Gaza, did not have to admit to wrongdoing as part of the deal.

Columbia has faced some blowback from critics who have expressed concern about the freedom of higher education institutions.