Northwestern U to pay US government $75 million to settle antisemitism complaints

Illinois university agrees to revoke deal made with anti-Zionist protesters, restoring $790 million in federal funds

Northwestern University in Illinois will pay the US federal government $75 million to settle complaints about antisemitism on the campus, the university and the Justice Department announced on Friday.

The agreement will restore $790 million in federal funding to the university that the Trump administration had frozen in April, and close federal investigations into the university.

As part of the settlement, the university agreed to revoke a deal that the campus administration made with anti-Zionist protesters in 2024.

The university made the so-called “Deering Meadow Agreement,” named for a part of campus that was occupied by a protest encampment, to end a demonstration against Israel.

The university agreed to protesters’ demands to set up an advisory committee on university investments, to fund two Palestinian faculty per year and five Palestinian undergraduates, to create a house for Muslim students, and to allow protests with some restrictions.

The agreement was widely criticized by Republicans and Jewish groups, with the American Jewish Committee’s branch in Chicago calling the deal “cowardly.”

As part of the agreement announced on Friday, the university said that it will uphold civil rights protections for Jews, work to improve Jewish life on campus through an advisory council, hire an external party to monitor the campus climate for Jewish students, and implement mandatory antisemitism training.

Northwestern will also clarify its policies regarding protests and ban masking on campus.

“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,” said US Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

The university will pay the $75 million over the next three years.

The Trump administration froze funding to a number of elite universities, citing campus antisemitism, and has settled a series of the investigations in recent months.

The agreement with Northwestern was the second-highest payment from a university, after Columbia University in July agreed to pay $200 million.

Interim university president Henry S. Bienen said in a statement that Northwestern had agreed to the deal because the funding freeze had caused severe damage to research, and litigation would have taken years to resolve and incurred huge costs.

“This has been an extremely difficult time for our community, and I believe this agreement was the best path forward for us to be able to turn the page,” Bienen said.