About Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom
Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom (CAAF) is a coalition of Columbia University graduates dedicated to protecting, maintaining, and developing academic freedom at our alma mater and throughout American higher education.
Who We Are
CAAF formed in response to unprecedented threats to academic freedom at Columbia University. In March 2025, the Trump Administration issued a letter demanding that Columbia surrender control of core academic and administrative functions—effectively requiring the university to cede its academic independence. This came after the administration abruptly canceled $400 million in federal funding on March 7, 2025, without following proper Title VI procedures for investigating alleged violations.
Rather than comply with standard due process, the Trump administration—led by Education Secretary Linda McMahon – leveraged this funding as a weapon to override Columbia’s First Amendment rights, due process protections, and fundamental academic freedom. We formed to ensure that Columbia stays independent and able to pursue its core mission to educate its students and to pursue free inquiry in all academic realms.
What We Do
CAAF works on three fronts to protect academic freedom:
Education: We inform the Columbia community and the public about threats to academic freedom and institutional independence.
Advocacy: We advocate for governance reform at Columbia to strengthen protections against future attacks on academic freedom.
Coalition Building: We ally with Columbia community stakeholders to address local Columbia issues and simultaneously align with alumni groups across the country to create a united front defending academic freedom, First Amendment rights, and due process protections at all American universities.
Our Track Record
Since our formation, CAAF has mobilized thousands of Columbia alumni to take meaningful action:
5,000+ alumni signed our April 2025 statement urging Columbia to resist unconstitutional federal overreach.
1,200+ alumni joined our amicus brief supporting Harvard University’s lawsuit against the federal government.
We have published critical analyses of the Trump/McMahon agreement and the legal precedents that expose these actions as unlawful and unconstitutional. Our work continues to shine a light on threats to academic freedom as they evolve.
Why This Matters
The fight for academic freedom is far from over. On July 23, 2025, Columbia’s Board of Trustees approved a deal with the Trump administration that threatens academic freedom and made significant concessions in governance, admissions, and institutional independence. The university was also forced to pay $200 million to the federal government and set aside $21 million to settle future lawsuits.
More troubling: this agreement expires six months before the end of Trump’s presidency, leaving Columbia vulnerable to renewed attacks. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has introduced a new ‘Compact’ approach—offering federal funds only to universities that conform to the administration’s policy and ideological agenda. Of nine schools offered this compact, seven have rejected it, including peer institutions like Brown University and MIT.
Even universities that signed earlier agreements, like Brown (which had restored $510 million in funding), remain targets for additional pressure. This demonstrates that compliance offers no immunity from future government overreach.
The Trump administration’s approach—leveraging federal funding to impose ideological conformity – fundamentally undermines scientific progress, economic rationality, national security, and the principles America has championed since 1776. The administration’s recent dismantling of merit-based academic funding through its ‘Compact’ represents an existential threat to higher education.
The fight for academic freedom at Columbia and throughout America requires collective action from all alumni. We ask you to join us in this fight!
Join Us
Academic freedom is not a partisan issue—it is a fundamental American principle that transcends politics. The defense of institutional independence, free inquiry, and intellectual integrity requires the engagement of every Columbia alumnus and alumna who value these ideals.
Whether you graduated decades ago or recently, your voice matters. We need Columbia alumni from all backgrounds, professions, and perspectives to stand together in defense of academic freedom.
Join CAAF today! Together, we can ensure that Columbia University remains a place where free inquiry thrives, where merit determines advancement, and where academic integrity stands firm against political pressure from any administration, present or future.