Northwestern To Pay $75M To U.S. Government To Restore Federal Funding

EVANSTON, IL —Northwestern University will pay $75 million to the U.S. government after reaching a deal with the Trump administration to restore federal funding, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

President Donald Trump's administration previously cut off $790 million in grants in a standoff that contributed to university layoffs and the September resignation of Northwestern president Michael Schill. The administration argued the school had not done enough to fight antisemitism.

Under the deal, Northwestern will make the payment to the U.S. Treasury over the next three years. The school also agreed to adhere to federal anti-discrimination laws; put in place policies and procedures relating to demonstrations and protests; and implement mandatory antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff.

The agreement also requires the university to revoke the so-called Deering Meadow agreement, which it signed in April 2024 in exchange for pro-Palestinian protesters ending their tent encampment on campus.

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During negotiations, interim university president Henry Bienen said Northwestern refused to cede control over hiring, admissions or its curriculum. "I would not have signed this agreement without provisions ensuring that is the case," he said.

Northwestern’s president and chair of the board of trustees will be required to certify each quarter, under penalty of perjury, the university’s full compliance with the agreement. In return, the federal government will close any pending investigations and restore Northwestern's federal grants, contracts and other awards.

“Today’s settlement marks another victory in the Trump administration’s fight to ensure that American educational institutions protect Jewish students and put merit first,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Institutions that accept federal funds are obligated to follow civil rights law — we are grateful to Northwestern for negotiating this historic deal.”

Trump has leveraged government control of federal research money to push for reforms at elite colleges he has decried as overrun by “woke” ideology.

The fine agreed to by Northwestern is the second-largest behind Columbia, which agreed in July to pay the government $200 million to resolve a series of investigations and restore its funding. Brown and Cornell also reached agreements with the government to restore funding following antisemitism investigations.

Harvard, the administration's primary target, remains in negotiations with the federal government over its demands for changes to campus policies and governance. The Ivy League school sued over the administration's cuts to its grant money and won a court victory in September when a federal judge ordered the government to restore federal funding, saying the Trump administration “used antisemitism as a smokescreen.”

This fall, the White House tried a different approach on higher education, offering preferential treatment for federal funds to several institutions in exchange for adopting policies in line with Trump’s agenda. The administration received a wave of initial rejections from some universities’ leadership, citing concerns that Trump’s higher education compact might supplant academic freedom.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.