US Freezes Funding for Cornell and Northwestern Universities in Latest Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Activism
Washington (Quds News Network)- The Trump administration has reportedly frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University while investigating both schools over pro-Palestinian campus protests.
A U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday that the funding being paused includes mostly grants and contracts with the federal departments of health, education, agriculture and defense.
The administration of the U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to block federal funding for schools over pro-Palestinian campus protests as well as other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and transgender policies.
Last month, it sent a letter to 60 universities, including Cornell and Northwestern, that it could bring enforcement actions if a review determined the schools had failed to stop what it called antisemitism.
Cornell University said that while it had not received formal notification of the worth or total amount of funding freeze from the government, it did receive stop work orders from the defense department related to research on defense, health and cybersecurity. It added that it was seeking more information from the government.
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.
“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 in jeopardy,” a Northwestern spokesperson said.
Last week, the U.S. government announced a review of $9 billion in federal grants and contracts to Harvard University and has since listed conditions it must meet to receive federal money.
Princeton University also said last week the government froze dozens of research grants.
Last month, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in funding for Columbia University, the epicenter of last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests. However, Columbia agreed to some significant changes that Trump’s administration demanded for talks about restoring the funding.
Federal agents have also detained dozens of foreign student protesters in recent weeks from different campuses and are working to deport them, and the government has revoked the visas of many foreign students.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said lately that the State Department may have revoked more than 300 visas of students.
As he campaigned for a second term in the White House, Trump pledged to stop the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted after Israel launched its deadly war on Gaza and deport any foreign students involved.
Upon taking office, he began to issue executive actions signalling he would carry out his threats.
“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump said in a White House fact sheet.
“I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
