The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University amid a widespread crackdown against pro-Palestinian students on US campuses, according to a report Tuesday.
The funding pause primarily affects grants and contracts from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services, two US officials told The New York Times on condition of anonymity.
Cornell said it received over 75 stop-work orders from the Defense Department but had no information that more than $1 billion in funding had been suspended, adding the affected research is "profoundly significant to American defense, cybersecurity and health."
Northwestern said it hasn't been officially notified of any freeze, stressing that the funding drives "innovative and lifesaving research."
Cornell and Northwestern are among 60 universities warned last month by the Trump administration over anti-Semitism and racial discrimination investigations.
The administration also cancelled approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University last month, citing the school's alleged failure to address anti-Semitism amid pro-Palestine protests on its campuses.
The move also came amid the administration's broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics, including the detention of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University and Fulbright scholar, and Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent Columbia University graduate.
