Columbia University faces a deadline to respond to demands from the Trump administration in order to restore $400 million in suspended federal funding. The demands include banning face masks, adopting a specific definition of antisemitism, and placing the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership. The administration's actions have been criticized as an assault on academic freedoms and the independence of higher education. Some professors and students argue that the demands conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.