Trump administration agrees to restore $1b to Northwestern University

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has reached agreement to restore around US$790 million (S$1.02 billion) in federal funds it withheld from Northwestern University and to close government investigations of the school, the university and the US Justice Department said on Nov 28.

Under the deal, the Chicago-area private research university will pay the US Treasury US$75 million over three years to settle complaints the administration raised over the school’s admissions standards, transgender policies and handling of anti-semitism on campus, the two sides said.

As stated in the settlement, the payment is not an admission of wrongdoing “but simply a condition of the agreement”, Northwestern president Henry Bienen said in a message to the university community.

Mr Bienen’s predecessor Michael Schill resigned in September amid ongoing tensions with the Trump administration, after a three-year tenure.

Northwestern also agreed to establish a committee of its Board of Trustees to ensure adherence to the agreement, with the university required to certify compliance on a quarterly basis.

Academic freedom

But Mr Bienen said the school had retained full academic freedom and autonomy as a self-governing institution, including control over faculty hiring, admissions decisions, curriculum and “the content of academic speech and research”.

In return, the federal government “shall close pending investigations and treat Northwestern as eligible for future grants, contracts and awards”, the Justice Department said in a separate statement.

As for the US$790 million in federal research dollars frozen by President Donald Trump’s administration in April, Mr Bienen said he expected those funds “to resume flowing within days” and be fully restored within a month. The freeze was imposed after Republicans in Congress accused the school of doing too little to address anti-semitism, including during campus protests against the Gaza war.

The administration also opened inquiries into whether the university was unlawfully using race-based racial preferences in its admissions policies and defying Trump policies restricting participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports.

US Attorney-General Pam Bondi hailed the agreement as “another victory in the Trump administration’s fight to ensure that American educational institutions protect Jewish students and put merit first”.

Mr Bienen said the university was already abiding by federal law and US Supreme Court rulings as reflected in the agreed-upon terms of the settlement, including merit-based admissions and anti-discrimination rules.

Combating antisemitism

To combat anti-semitism, Northwestern cited several initiatives – new training requirements, expanded reporting systems and greater support for Jewish students – that it said were implemented over the past two years.

The university said it would comply with the latest Title IX education rules requiring “safe and fair opportunities” for women, including single-sex housing for any woman who requests such accommodations, as well as all-female sports, locker rooms and showering facilities.

At the same time, the settlement places no new restrictions on the campus transgender community, with students, faculty and staff free to choose how they identify themselves and pronouns they use, the university said.

Northwestern was one of several universities whose funding Mr Trump has cut or threatened to strip in a pressure campaign aimed at bending institutions of higher education to the policies of his administration.

Cornell University agreed earlier this month to pay the government US$30 million and invest another US$30 million in agricultural research in return for restoration of US$250 million in federal grants that had been frozen.

In October, the administration offered nine universities preferential consideration for federal funding in exchange for agreeing to a set of policies. Northwestern said it has refused to sign such a compact, as have most of the other schools Mr Trump approached with such offers. REUTERS