Northwestern Agrees to Deal With Trump Administration

The university will pay $75 million to regain its research funding and end investigations, the second highest payment by a school facing pressure from the administration.

Northwestern agreed to pay $75 million to the federal government in a deal reached on Friday with the Trump administration that restores hundreds of millions in research funding and closes multiple investigations into antisemitism on campus.

The deal was the sixth agreement that the Trump administration had reached with an elite university, and the second-highest payment, since the White House began blocking research funding from major colleges that it viewed as out of step with its policy agenda for academia.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the two sides were finalizing their agreement.

Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the deal as “another victory” for the administration in its pressure campaign, while Henry S. Bienen, Northwestern’s interim president, said the agreement ended “a deeply painful and disruptive period in our university’s history.”

“We understand how difficult the past seven months have been since our federal research funding was frozen, and that many of you have felt the impacts deeply and personally,” Mr. Bienen said in a letter to the Northwestern community. “The experience has been grueling, and we appreciate the care and professionalism you have taken as we have navigated this difficult stretch as a community.”

Northwestern has endured months of pressure from the White House and Republicans in Congress. On Sept. 4, in the face of that pressure, Michael H. Schill, the university’s president at the time, abruptly announced that he would resign after three years in office.

Northwestern’s payments will be made to the U.S. Treasury over the next three years, according to the deal. The government agreed to close three federal investigations — by the Education, Health and Human Services and Justice Departments — without any acknowledgment of wrongdoing by the university.

Leaders of some educational institutions have struggled with agreeing to terms that might appear like paying off the White House. Columbia University opted for the clarity of a cash deal that involved a $200 million payment to the government. Brown, on the other hand, negotiated an agreement that allowed it to spend $50 million on state work force programs.

The Northwestern agreement also requires the university to revise all policies, protocols and public-facing materials on hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries for children at its Feinberg School of Medicine, and “ensure compliance with federal laws.” The medical school has been involved in research on transgender hormonal treatments for children and adolescents, finding that hormone therapy has positive effects on physical and mental health.

Mr. Trump campaigned against such gender-affirming medical care for trans minors and, as president, has put the full weight of the government behind denying transgender identity.

The deal with the government also requires the university to revoke the so-called Deering Meadow agreement, which it signed in 2024 to end campus encampments in protest of Israel and the war in Gaza. Under the agreement, the university vowed to reverse all policies implemented under the 2024 accord.

In the Deering Meadow agreement, named after a large green space on campus where encampments were set up, the university promised to increase transparency into its financial holdings and to provide support for Palestinians, including in the form of two slots for visiting faculty members and full scholarships for five undergraduate students. Some Jewish leaders, including officials from the American Jewish Committee, objected to the terms.

The new deal requires Northwestern to survey the school body, asking whether students feel welcome and they feel safe reporting antisemitism, among other questions.

Republicans have accused Northwestern of not doing enough to address antisemitism during campus protests over the war in Gaza, and Mr. Schill faced a difficult hearing on Capitol Hill last year over whether the school had adequately protected Jewish students.

In April, the Trump administration froze at least $790 million in federal research funding planned for Northwestern. In July, the university announced plans to eliminate about 425 jobs, about half of which were vacant.

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said the administration safeguarded the “rights of all the university’s applicants, students and employees.”

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