The Trump administration announced on Friday that it had canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, an extraordinary step that it said was necessary because of what it described as the school’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment.

The announcement escalated the administration’s targeting of Columbia, where protests last year over the war in Gaza set off a nationwide debate over free speech, campus policing and antisemitism, and led to similar demonstrations at schools nationwide.

The move also represents the latest in a series of attacks by Trump-aligned Republicans aimed at elite higher educational institutions, following last year’s congressional hearings that resulted in the departure of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. It comes after recent executive orders barring diversity, equity and inclusion programs at all educational institutions that receive federal funds.

A warning issued Monday by Linda McMahon, the newly confirmed secretary of education, made clear that the administration had its sights set on Columbia. Ms. McMahon warned that Columbia would face the loss of federal funding, the lifeblood of major research universities, if it did not take additional action to combat antisemitism on campus.

A statement issued by four federal agencies on Friday announcing the funding cuts referred to ongoing protests and antisemitic harassment at Columbia, though to what extent pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus can be considered antisemitic remains in dispute.

Issued by the departments of Justice, Education and Health and Human Services, along with the General Services Administration, the statement did not indicate what grants would be terminated. But it said that the Health and Human Services and Education Departments would soon issue stop-work orders to immediately freeze the university’s access to some funds.

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