Pathetic Columbia finally cracks down only when its funding is threatened

Columbia University is finally doling out punishments for lawbreaking anti-Israel hooligans —but only after itself getting punished for its civil-rights failures.

The school announced Thursday that it had suspended or expelled members of the dozens-strong mob who seized Hamilton Hall last April, smashing a glass door, barricading themselves inside and draping a giant flag calling for “intifada” over the façade; it even (temporarily) stripped some diplomas.

Better late than never — but it should have tossed these goons out immediately after they took over the building.

It sure looks like Columbia, left to its own devices, would’ve continued its approach of more than a year — doing absolutely zilch.

Except that the Trump administration applied pressure hard, cancelling $400 million in government grants and contracts, about 8% of Columbia’s federal take.

More, Team Trump this week sent the university a list of demands for reform — at penalty of risking all taxpayer funding.

The steps to protect Jewish students from harassment include formalizing Columbia’s definition of antisemitism, banning mask-wearing meant “to conceal identity or intimidate” and putting its Middle Eastern studies division (a hotbed of radicalism) under “academic receivership.”

(That last bit seems ill-defined, but sounds even worse than “double-secret probation.”)

On Monday, 60 other riot-tolerating universities got notice that they could face Columbia’s fate if they don’t start ridding their campuses of anti-Israel troublemakers.

Coming atop of DOGE-driven cuts in government grants for DEI and other noxious programs, as well as a ceiling on what schools can charge the feds for “overhead” costs, this is prompting hiring freezes across the nation, as spooked universities realize the taxpayer-funded gravy train might stop rolling.

It shouldn’t have taken a hard smack from the feds to jolt Columbia into action: Tossing out students who violate codes of conduct and destroy school property should be a given.

But Columbia, and too many other schools, turned a blind eye to even flagrant violations because administrators have somehow decided 1) it’s wrong to insist that lefties obey the rules, and 2) that antisemism is somehow now progressive.

Trump is putting an end to that, so more clamp downs on lawbreaking protesters are likely ahead.

Feckless universities may actually feel obliged to demand civil behavior.