US freezes funding for Cornell and Northwestern universities in latest crackdown

US President Donald Trump's administration has frozen more than $1bn (R19.6bn) in funding for Cornell University and $790m (R15.5bn) for Northwestern University while it investigates the schools over civil rights violations, a US official said on Tuesday.

The funding being paused includes mostly grants and contracts with the federal departments of health, education, agriculture and defence, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Trump administration has threatened to block federal funding for universities over pro-Palestinian campus protests and other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and transgender policies.

Last month, it sent a letter to 60 universities, including Cornell and Northwestern, threatening it could bring enforcement actions if a review determined the schools had failed to stop what it called anti-Semitism.

Cornell University said while it had not received formal notification of the amount of funding freeze, it did receive stop work orders from the defence department related to research on defence, health and cybersecurity. It said it was seeking more information from the government.

Northwestern said it was aware of media reports about the funding freeze but had not received official notification from the government and said it has co-operated in the investigation.

“Federal funds Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, such as the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world's smallest pacemaker, and research fuelling the fight against Alzheimer's disease. This type of research is in jeopardy,” a Northwestern spokesperson said.

Trump has attempted to crack down on pro-Palestinian campus protests against US ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza, which has caused a humanitarian crisis in the enclave and came after a deadly October 2023 attack by Islamist group Hamas.

The US president has called the protesters anti-Semitic, and labelled them as sympathetic to Hamas militants and foreign policy threats.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, said the Trump administration wrongly conflated their criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza and advocacy for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism and support for Hamas.

Human rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns regarding the crackdown by the Trump administration.

Last week, the US government announced a review of $9bn (R177.1bn) 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 cancelled $400m (R7.8bn) in funding for Columbia University, the epicentre of last year's pro-Palestinian campus protests.

Columbia agreed to some significant changes Trump's administration demanded for talks about restoring the funding.

Federal agents have also detained some foreign student protesters in recent weeks from different campuses and are working to deport them, and the government has revoked visas of many foreign students.

Rights advocates have also raised concerns about Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias during the Israel-Gaza war. The Trump administration has not announced steps in response.

In March, the Trump administration suspended $175m (R3.4bn) in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender sports policies.

Reuters