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NEW YORK — The Trump administration said Friday it will pull $400 million from Columbia University, canceling grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism amid pro-Palestinian campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The notice came five days after federal agencies announced they were considering orders to stop work on $51 million in contracts with the New York City university and reviewing its eligibility for more than $5 billion in federal grants going forward. It also came after Columbia set up a new disciplinary committee and ramped up its own investigations into students critical of Israel, alarming free speech advocates.

But Columbia's efforts evidently didn't go far enough for the federal government.

"Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement Friday.

She later posted on social media that she had "a productive meeting" with the university's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, and anticipated "working together to protect all students."

Columbia vowed to work with the government to try to get the money back.

"We take Columbia's legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combating antisemitism and ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff," the university said in a statement.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to change the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to exclude debt cancellation to nonprofit workers whose work is tied to illegal immigration, foreign terrorist groups or other activity deemed “improper.�

The program offers to cancel remaining student debt after borrowers make 10 years of payments while working in public service.

It is not clear which research, projects or activities will be affected at Columbia, which operates a medical center among many other functions. The university said it was reviewing the announcement.

While the details aren't yet certain, the announcement comes as research project leaders at Columbia figure out their budgets for the next academic year, and they're "very worried about what this means," said oceanographer Robert Newton, a retired senior research scientist who continues to teach at the university.

Newton, who is Jewish, sees the government's complaints as based on "a complete falsehood" about Columbia being awash in antisemitism and indifferent to some Jewish students' reports of facing hostility.

The $400 million cutoff was welcome news to Columbia/Barnard Hillel, a Jewish student group. Executive Director Brian Cohen said he hoped it would be "a wake-up call to Columbia's administration and trustees to take antisemitism and the harassment of Jewish students and faculty seriously."

The New York Civil Liberties Union's executive director, Donna Lieberman, called the move an unconstitutional government effort "to coerce colleges and universities into censoring student speech and advocacy that isn't MAGA-approved, like criticizing Israel or supporting Palestinian rights." A message seeking comment was sent to a coalition group of pro-Palestinian protesters.

Columbia has become the first target in Trump's campaign to cut federal money to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

The university was at the forefront of U.S. campus protests over the war last spring. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment in April and inspired a wave of similar protests. Protesters at Columbia went on to seize a campus building, resulting in dozens of arrests when police cleared the building.

In recent days, a much smaller contingent of demonstrators staged brief occupations of buildings at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College to protest the expulsion of two students accused of disrupting an Israeli history class. Several students were arrested following an hourslong takeover of a building Wednesday.

Many people involved in the protests said there's nothing antisemitic about criticizing Israel over its actions in Gaza or expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

Some students, and an attorney advising them, see the university's new disciplinary crackdown as an effort to mollify the government by suppressing pro-Palestinian speech.

Columbia is among a handful of colleges that have come under new federal antisemitism investigations. Others include the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; Northwestern University; and Portland State University.