The search for Columbia’s 21st University president has been ongoing for almost five months.

While the University maintains that the deal ensures freedom regarding hiring, admissions, and academic speech, other terms of the agreement, including a restriction on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and the establishment of an independent monitor, have sparked controversy. Critics argue that the deal is a political capitulation that limits academic freedom.

Columbia will begin taking into account the “readiness to engage in civil discourse” of some applicants in the 2025-26 undergraduate admissions cycle. The University, along with five other colleges, has partnered with the educational platform Schoolhouse.world to introduce an optional supplemental portfolio reflecting applicants’ participation in discussions of “hot-button” issues with their peers.

Beginning Aug. 7, Columbia will start informing individuals who had personal data, including social security numbers, stolen in a June 24 cyberattack on a rolling basis via USPS mail, the Office of Public Affairs wrote in a Tuesday email to the Columbia community.

After Columbia announced a $221 million deal with President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday to restore federal funding and settle its civil rights violations, students expressed both discontent and hope alongside faculty members—who grappled with concerns over autonomy, the government’s commitment to the deal, and feelings of concession.

Three Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers testified on July 15 in the American Association of University Professors’ lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration that they had never before been asked to conduct an arrest on “legal or factual grounds” similar to the arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, SIPA ’24, Rümeysa Öztürk, TC ’20, and Mohsen Mahdawi, GS ’25.

The University Judicial Board on Tuesday issued expulsions, one to three-year suspensions, and degree revocations to over 70 students for their participation in the May 7 demonstration in Butler Library’s Lawrence A. Wien Reading Room, a person with knowledge of the disciplinary process confirmed to Spectator.