The Trump administration's settlement with Columbia clarifies the stakes for anyone weighing whether to fight its demands or concede.

“It’s basically the template,” he said of the Columbia deal. “Schools that have the capacity to pay $200 million can do that. They could easily dial that amount up or down. The fine is the least consequential part. It’s all the other details, which give the government unprecedented control over a private university.”

For Columbia, the cost of mollifying Trump was steep. Claire Shipman, the university's president, agreed the school would pay a $200 million fine to resolve funding disputes, plus an additional $21 million designated for university employees who said they'd faced discrimination or harm amid campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas war.