Pauses come after Trump officials sent warning letters to 60 US universities for \u2018failure to protect Jewish students\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early March, the Trump administration sent warning letters<\/a> to 60 US universities it said were facing \u201cpotential enforcement actions\u201d for what it described as \u201cfailure to protect Jewish students on campus\u201d in the wake of widespread pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The president of Cornell University, which was on the list, responded with a defiant op-ed<\/a> in the New York Times, arguing that universities, and their students, could weather debates and protests over the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUniversities, despite rapidly escalating political, legal and financial risks, cannot afford to cede the space of public discourse and the free exchange of ideas,\u201d the Cornell University president Michael Kotlikoff wrote on 31 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday, the Trump administration<\/a> froze over $1bn in funding for Cornell University, a US official said. The administration also froze $790m for Northwestern University, which hosts a prominent journalism school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The funding pause includes mostly grants and contracts with the federal departments of health, education, agriculture and defense, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newly announced funding freezes at Cornell and Northwestern come as Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania face similar investigations. The New York Times estimated that at least $3.3bn in elite university federal funding<\/a> has already been frozen by the Trump administration in the past month, with billions more under review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Northwestern said it was aware of media reports about the funding freeze but had not received any official notification from the government and that it has cooperated in the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFederal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world\u2019s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer\u2019s disease. This type of research is now in jeopardy,\u201d a Northwestern spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe cannot let our caution overtake our purpose,\u201d Kotlikoff wrote in the New York Times piece. \u201cOur colleges and universities are cradles of democracy and bulwarks against autocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has attempted to crack down on pro-Palestinian campus protests against US ally Israel\u2019s devastating military assault on Gaza, which has caused a humanitarian crisis in the territory following a deadly October 2023 attack by Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US president has called the protesters antisemitic, has labeled them as sympathetic to Hamas and foreign policy threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and advocacy for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas. Human rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the crackdown by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, the Trump administration suspended $175m in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender sports policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, the Trump administration canceled $400m in funding for Columbia University, the epicenter of last year\u2019s pro-Palestinian campus protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Columbia sparked condemnation from academics and free speech groups after agreeing to significant changes<\/a> Trump\u2019s administration demanded, including putting its Middle Eastern studies department under new administrative supervision, banning face masks on campus, giving campus security officers power to remove or arrest people and expanding \u201cintellectual diversity\u201d by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, Lee Bollinger, Columbia\u2019s former president, described<\/a> the situation as \u201can authoritarian takeover\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n