Cornell University Reaches $60 Million Deal With Trump Administration

Cornell University will pay $60 million as part of a deal with the Trump administration that will restore federal-research funding and settle the government’s complaints alleging discrimination at the Ivy League university.

 

Under the agreement, the university will pay the federal government $30 million over three years and spend another $30 million on programs that benefit U.S. farmers, Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff said in a statement Friday.

 

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The Trump administration has targeted a slate of prominent American universities in a crackdown that has disrupted university operations, raised questions over institutional autonomy and highlighted academia’s relationship to the federal government. Cornell was among several universities the Trump administration hit with federal-funding freezes and investigations over alleged civil-rights violations.

 

Cornell’s deal restores more than $250 million in withheld research funding from the federal government—cuts that, Kotlikoff said, “have stalled cutting-edge research, upended lives and careers, and threatened the future of academic programs at Cornell.”

 

The deal also re-establishes the research partnership between Cornell and the federal government while maintaining the private school’s academic freedom and institutional autonomy, Kotlikoff said.

 

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Cornell joins other academic institutions that have reached settlements with the Trump administration to restore funding. Brown University agreed to pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce-development organizations, and Columbia University reached a deal to pay $200 million to the federal government over three years to settle allegations the school violated antidiscrimination laws.

 

President Trump took aim at schools his administration viewed as liberal hotbeds that failed to protect Jewish students in the midst of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that became prevalent over the past two years. The administration also targeted university diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs.

 

Cornell agreed to comply with federal civil-rights laws as part of the deal and to include a Justice Department memo that outlines what the administration considers illegal discrimination policies, including DEI practices, as a training resource for faculty and staff.

 

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The university will continue to survey students annually about the climate on campus, including specifically for Jewish students. The agreement said the surveys should include questions about whether students “feel safe reporting antisemitism” and whether changes at Cornell since October 2023 “have benefited the Cornell community.”

 

Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the deal “another transformative commitment from an Ivy League institution to end divisive DEI policies.”

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