Dr. Shafik called in the New York Police Department the next day to empty the encampment, and the university lurched to the center of the protest movement still unfolding across the country.
The decision to bring in the police infuriated many people on campus. The crackdown, though, did not fully assuage the Berrie Foundation’s fears. The board, disturbed by the vitriol on campus, decided unanimously on April 26 that the foundation’s giving would stop for now. The chaos that had enveloped Columbia for part of April, Ms. Berrie said, made the decision easier, if still deeply painful.
“For us, this didn’t start with the encampment — this has been an escalation of faculty with their ideological positions in the classrooms, Jewish students unable to participate fully in university life because of what they believe or who they are,” said Idana Goldberg, the foundation’s chief executive.
Most immediately, the pause affects $153,000 that the foundation had expected to put toward a diabetes research grant. A lasting suspension, though, could have far more costly consequences: The foundation, which is expected to wind down its operations in about a decade, has been weighing another gift of at least $10 million.
Daniel W. Jones, a former chancellor of the University of Mississippi who previously served as the dean of the medical school there, said it was “uncommon” for a donor to cut off support tied to medical research and care. Such causes, he said, are often seen as sacrosanct and insulated from the day-to-day turmoil of a major university.