Agencies New York

Columbia University said Tuesday that it will be laying off nearly 180 staffers in response to President Donald Trump's decision to cancel $400 million in funding over the Manhattan college's handling of student protests against the war in Gaza. Those receiving non-renewal or termination notices Tuesday represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said in a statement Tuesday. 

"We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources," the university said. "Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard." University spokesperson Jessica Murphy declined to say whether more layoffs were expected, but said Columbia is taking a range of steps to create financial flexibility, including maintaining current salary levels and offering voluntary retirement incentives.

Research will also be scaled back, with some departments winding down studies and others maintaining some level of research.  The layoffs, while expected, were "dispiriting" for faculty, said Marcel Agueros, secretary of Columbia's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration.