Columbia University’s $21 million deal with the EEOC to resolve on-campus antisemitism charges is the largest public settlement the commission has inked in nearly 20 years.
Columbia’s settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission included resolving a charge brought by Republican Acting Chair Andrea Lucas in 2024 to probe claims of employee civil rights violations and a hostile campus work environment after the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The agreement is part of a broader $221 million deal struck between Columbia and the Trump administration that aims to ultimately restore canceled grants and contracts to the school. The funds will resolve multiple civil rights investigations the administration launched against Columbia.
Besides setting a 20-year record across all EEOC harassment and discrimination settlements, the Columbia agreement also marks the largest commission settlement for antisemitism allegations to date, and the “most significant” EEOC settlement for workers of any faith or religion, according to an agency statement Friday.
Typically EEOC settlements disclosed publicly are in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The $21 million will establish a class claims fund to compensate employees who may have experienced antisemitism on the campus after October 2023. Columbia chose to voluntarily resolve the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act charges without admission of liability, the EEOC said.
Most EEOC investigations stem from charges filed by workers, however commissioners are also able to file charges to initiate a review of employers for suspected discrimination.
Commissioner charges are confidential, but the EEOC’s investigation into both Columbia and Barnard Colleges was revealed in April when professors said they had received text messages as part of the agency’s probe into alleged campus antisemitism.
A spokesperson for Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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