Columbia University has agreed to a series of changes demanded by the White House as a pre-condition for restoring $US400 million in federal funding which the Trump administration had pulled. On Friday, the Ivy League university agreed to ban masks, empower 36 campus police officers with new powers to arrest students and appoint a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the departments of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies as well as the Center for Palestine Studies. The university’s acquiescence follows an extraordinary ultimatum by President Trump to implement those and other changes or risk losing billions...