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President Trump has cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding to Columbia University, as part of his effort to force the school to crack down on radical left-wing anti-Israel protests that often turn into on-campus riots.
This decision has prompted many Americans to question why a private university was receiving substantial public funding initially.
Political commentator and host Jake Novak says, "They're involved in research and other politically edged programs that different White House and congressional regimes have supported over time."
While funding those programs may give Trump some leverage over the school, Novak doesn't think it's going to be enough to stop these campus protests. He says that criminal charges may be warranted for some members of Columbia's faculty.
According to him, "For this to be really effective, they need to do more than just threaten to pull the funding, or even pull the funding. The disruption of classes and studying in the library is an open and shut civil rights violation, and people need to go to jail for that."
He went on to add that school faculty allowed these riots to break out and that "they need to be prosecuted very personally, not just the university. That's gonna be the only thing that might force change."