The Columbia deal is a tragic wake-up call

Last month, Columbia University entered an agreement with the US government to restore federal funding for research in exchange for actions by the university to address complaints by the Trump administration about antisemitism on campus and civil rights violations in admissions and faculty hiring. In reaching the deal, the government wielded science funding-at least $1.3 billion dollars annually-as a powerful lever to influence the university, and signing it was probably unavoidable. Although there is much to criticize in the agreement, it stands as a reminder that accepting federal dollars for research has always come with the possibility that those funds could be clawed back under circumstances deemed a misuse of taxpayer money. Universities are now witnessing this power-of-the-purse at an unparalleled magnitude.