The White House says Cornell University’s $1bn and Northwestern University’s $790m in federal funding have been blocked.
The United States government has frozen more than $1bn in federal funding for Cornell University and about $790m for Northwestern University to investigate alleged civil rights violations, according to the White House.
The development follows threats by the administration of US President Donald Trump to block federal funding for schools over pro-Palestinian campus protests, as well as other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and transgender policies.
The White House confirmed the funding pauses late on Tuesday night, but offered no further details on what they entail or what grants to the schools are being affected.
An official speaking on anonymity told the Reuters news agency that the funding being paused includes mostly grants and contracts with the federal departments of health, education, agriculture and defence.
In a statement, Cornell said it had received more than 75 stop work orders earlier on Tuesday from the Department of Defense related to research “profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health” but that it had not otherwise received any information confirming $1bn in frozen grants.
“We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” said the statement from Michael I Kotlikoff, the university president, and other top school officials.
Northwestern said it was aware of media reports about the funding freeze but had not received any official notification from the government and that it has cooperated in the investigation.
“Federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fuelling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. This type of research is now in jeopardy,” a Northwestern spokesperson told Reuters.
Last month, the Trump administration sent a letter to 60 universities, including Cornell and Northwestern, that it could bring enforcement actions if a review determined the schools had failed to stop what it called anti-Semitism.
Columbia University, the epicentre of last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests, had its $400m funding cancelled last month.
Later, the university agreed to some significant changes that Trump’s administration demanded for talks about restoring the funding. Its decision to bow to those demands, in part to salvage continuing research projects at its labs and medical centre, has been criticised by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom.
Last week, the US government also announced a review of $9bn in federal grants and contracts to Harvard University and has since listed conditions it must meet to receive federal money. Princeton University also said last week that the government froze dozens of research grants.
US federal agents have also detained some foreign student protesters in recent weeks from different campuses and are working to deport them. And the government has revoked the visas of many foreign students.
Rights advocates have raised concerns about Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias during Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Trump administration has not announced steps in response.