WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University amid civil rights investigations into both schools, two U.S. officials said.

The funding pause involves mostly grants from and contracts with the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unannounced decision.

The moves are the latest and largest in a rapidly escalating campaign against elite American universities that has resulted in billions of dollars in federal funds being suspended or put under review in just over a month. Other schools that have had funds threatened include Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University.

Cornell, Northwestern Face Investigations

Cornell and Northwestern are both facing investigations into allegations of antisemitism and into accusations of racial discrimination stemming from their efforts to promote diversity.

Cornell officials said in a statement that they had received more than 75 stop-work orders from the Defense Department on Tuesday, but that they had no information to confirm that more than $1 billion in funding had been suspended. The affected grants, they said, supported research that they described as “profoundly significant to American defense, cybersecurity and health.”

“We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” said the joint statement from Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, Provost Kavita Bala and Provost for Medical Affairs Robert Harrington.

Jon Yates, a spokesperson for Northwestern, said the university had not been notified by the federal government that funding had been frozen.

Northwestern, a Big Ten university, is the first non-Ivy League school to have funding from the Trump administration targeted under investigations of alleged discrimination. The university issued a “progress report” last week that highlighted its efforts to protect Jewish students, including mandatory antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff.

“Federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and lifesaving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” Yates said. “This type of research is now at jeopardy.”

Yates added that Northwestern had “fully cooperated” with federal and congressional investigations.

Education Secretary Shares that Trump Is Focused on Elite Universities

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been explicit about the administration’s focus on elite universities, which Trump has criticized as bastions of left-wing thought. She has said taxpayer support is a “privilege” that can be withdrawn if universities do not adhere to civil rights law.

Like other universities, Cornell and Northwestern were the site of clashes over the war in the Gaza Strip.

Cornell and Northwestern were among 60 universities that the Trump administration warned last month of potential enforcement actions over investigations into allegations of antisemitism. Each school also has investigations pending into accusations of racial discrimination.

Last month, the Republican-controlled House Education Committee chided Northwestern over legal clinics at its law school that had represented organizers of an anti-Israel protest.

University officials have said the legal clinics were providing training for students and were not representing the views of the school. In a letter to the school, Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., the committee chair, and Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Ohio, chair of the panel’s subcommittee on higher education, described the training as “illegal, antisemitic conduct.”

Cornell also recently defended itself against claims that it was not doing enough to stop antisemitism. In a New York Times opinion essay, Kotlikoff described the nation’s universities as institutions built to uphold and advance democratic norms even in the face of escalating political and legal risks.

“A messy event that turns into viral videos causes understandable concern to trustees and alumni, and adds more fuel to already burning fires,” Kotlikoff wrote last week. “But if we are to preserve our value and our meaning, we cannot let our caution overtake our purpose. Our colleges and universities are cradles of democracy and bulwarks against autocracy.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Michael C. Bender and Sheryl Gay Stolberg/Heather Ainsworth
c. 2025 The New York Times Company