The White House confirmed that more than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University have been frozen while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at both schools.
A Trump administration official said “the money was frozen in connection with several ongoing, credible, and concerning Title VI investigations,” referring to a federal statute that prohibits discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding. The New York Times was first to report the freeze on funding for the universities.
In a statement, Cornell said it had received more than 75 stop work orders earlier Tuesday from the Defense Department related to research “profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health” but that it had not otherwise received any information confirming $1 billion in frozen grants. A statement from Michael I. Kotlikoff, the university president, read: “We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” adding it has “worked diligently to create an environment where all individuals and viewpoints are protected and respected.”
Northwestern University president Michael Schill said in an email to his community that it had not been notified by the federal government of the cuts (according to the campus newspaper The Daily Northwestern.). Schill said that “federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. This type of research is now at jeopardy. The University has fully cooperated with investigations by both the Department of Education and Congress.”
On March 14, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, announced it had opened Title VI investigations into 45 universities, emphasizing it has “reiterated” the schools’ “civil rights obligations to end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”
This new freeze is the latest in a series of federal funding attacks against the Ivy League, but Northwestern would be the first institution to face a funding cut outside of that group. The Trump administration has already frozen funding at Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. Yale University and Dartmouth College are the only two Ivies that have yet to receive a similar notice.
Editorial credit: Jay Yuan / Shutterstock.com
