April 9 (UPI) — The federal government has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern as both schools remain under investigation by the Department of Education.
The New York Times first reported Wednesday that funding garnered from grants from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services have been paused as the schools are investigated for violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act “to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities,” as per a March press release from the Education Department.
Cornell put out a statement Wednesday that discussed “media reports suggesting that more than $1 billion in federal grants have been frozen.”
“While we have not received information that would confirm this figure, earlier today Cornell received more than 75 stop work orders from the Department of Defense related to research that is profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health,” the school said.
Grants to Cornell that would be impacted “include research into new materials for jet engines, propulsion systems, large-scale information networks, robotics, superconductors, and space and satellite communications, as well as cancer research,” the statement said, which it further described as “work of significance for our national defense, the competitiveness of our economy, and the health of our citizens.”
Northwestern University released a statement Tuesday that echoed how Cornell learned of the funding freeze, stating it was “informed by members of the media that the federal government will freeze a significant portion of our federal funding.”
“The University has not received any official notification from the federal government,” it said.
It continued that it is “working closely with members of our Board, deans and our administration to assess the impact of these actions.
“We will continue to keep both affected individuals and the broader community informed as the implications of these actions become clearer,” it said.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D- Ill., posted to X Tuesday that the actions to freeze funding to universities must be stopped.”
“Trump’s reported decision to freeze funding at Northwestern University will put life-saving cures and critical research at risk,” Schakowsky said. “This freeze won’t protect the Jewish students Trump claims to defend, it will instead undermine their academic endeavors.”
