The Trump administration has frozen federal grants for Northwestern and Cornell universities, following similar actions against Columbia and Princeton. Cornell's funding has been paused by $1.05 billion, and Northwestern's by $790 million, due to potential civil rights violations, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Northwestern University said it hasn’t officially heard from the government yet and only found out through the media. The New York Times was the first to report the funding freezes. A spokesperson for Cornell University didn’t give any comment at the time. Former President Donald Trump has criticised universities for how they’ve handled antisemitism, especially after student protests broke out following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s military response in Gaza. This government action has raised concerns among students and professors, who worry that it could limit free speech and academic freedom, and also harm research and innovation.

The university said in the statement that it "has fully cooperated with investigations by both the Department of Education and Congress." Northwestern also said that federal funds support life-saving and innovative research, such as the development of the world's smallest pacemaker by Northwestern researchers and research that helps fight Alzheimer's disease. In March, the Trump administration stopped $400 million in funding for Columbia University, and just last week, it warned Harvard that $9 billion in grants and contracts could be at risk.

Princeton also reported that many of its research grants were put on hold. Trump has increased federal control over higher education in the U.S. by cutting billions of dollars in research funding for universities and cancelling the visas of hundreds of students, including those involved in the pro-Palestine movement. In March, a joint federal task force announced it would visit 10 schools — including Harvard, Columbia, and Northwestern — to look into separate reports of alleged antisemitism. Northwestern and Cornell are also among 60 schools that the Education Department warned could face action if they don’t meet their responsibility to protect Jewish students.

 Northwestern University shared in its latest annual report that it received a record-breaking $1.05 billion in sponsored research funding, which is a 5% increase compared to the previous year. It’s not clearly stated whether all of this funding came from the federal government. The report also mentioned a renewable five-year grant of $26 million from the National Science Foundation, which will support the creation of a new engineering research centre. Michael Schill, the president of the school, was brought before Congress to testify last year after striking a deal with demonstrators to disperse an encampment on the Evanston, Illinois, campus.