Northwestern is the sixth university to reach an agreement with the administration.
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Northwestern University has reached an agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal research funding. The university will pay $75 million to the federal government and implement various changes. In return, the federal government would lift a freeze on millions in research funding.
As part of the settlement, Northwestern agreed to abide by federal anti-discrimination laws and provide no preference in admissions, scholarships, hiring or promotions based on race, color or national origin; maintain an explicit free speech policy; and require anti-Semitism training for all students, faculty and staff. University officials will also rescind a 2024 agreement with pro-Palestinian student protesters in which Northwestern agreed to provide more support for Muslim, Middle Eastern and North African students and increase financial transparency.
The settlement also prohibits Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine from performing “hormonal interventions and gender reassignment surgeries” on underage patients, according to the agreement. However, university officials said this does not reflect a change in practice. Instead, the agreement simply states that Northwest will not provide such services.
Northwestern is now the sixth university to reach an agreement with the Trump administration, following settlements with the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Brown University, the University of Virginia and Cornell University. Northwestern University received the second-largest financial compensation of the settlements, at $75 million, behind Columbia University, which agreed to pay $221 million. Unlike the Brown and Cornell settlements, all funds will go directly to the U.S. government.
way forward
Despite the $75 million payout, Northwestern’s leadership considered the settlement a victory.
“This is the best, most certain way to restore our federal funding now and in the future,” interim President Henry Bienen said in a video message following the settlement.
The Trump administration froze $790 million in federal research funding earlier this year over concerns about alleged anti-Semitism on campus following pro-Palestinian demonstrations in 2024. Last year, at the height of the protests, then-President Michael Schill reached an agreement with pro-Palestinian students known as the Deering Meadows Agreement, but it has now been shelved. The deal came under intense congressional scrutiny when Schill testified in May 2024. (Schill later resigned, resigning this fall amid a standoff over a freeze on federal research funding.)
While Harvard filed a successful lawsuit against the federal government, prompting a judge to rule in July that a similar funding freeze was illegal, Northwestern aims to avoid a costly and drawn-out legal battle to quickly restore research funding.
Binan argued in the video that “prosecution would cost time and money and we don’t think the university can take that risk” and that settlement is “the best way we can turn the page.” Bienen said that despite an endowment worth more than $14 billion, the university cannot sustain its research mission alone. If the freeze continues, Binan said, it will “destroy our labs, drive away faculty, and hinder the development of an entire field of discovery.”
Like other wealthy institutions hit by federal funding freezes, Northwestern has launched a series of cost-cutting initiatives as it grapples with unexpected financial challenges related to its research enterprise. Earlier this year, Northwest eliminated 425 jobs as part of overall budget cuts.
Now, the federal funding spigot will be turned back on, although officials note on the university’s website that “some terminated grants will not be reinstated, particularly those that were cut by the federal government,” and that “these decisions are not specific to Northwestern.”
The university did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.
Northwestern also responded to a question that has dogged many other universities in its settlement communications, saying it will not sign on to the Trump administration’s Compact on Academic Excellence in Higher Education. The agreement, initially open to only a handful of universities and later to all universities, would provide preferential treatment in federal funding in exchange for a variety of changes, many of which would undermine academic freedom. So far, few institutions have expressed interest in the proposal.
landmark deal
Federal officials also hailed the settlement with Northwestern as a victory.
“Universities that receive federal funding have a responsibility to comply with the law, including preventing racial discrimination and anti-Semitism,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a release. “We appreciate the significant progress Northwestern has made and are pleased to have reached an agreement that safeguards rights [sic] All University applicants, students and employees. “
Education Minister Linda McMahon called the settlement a landmark agreement.
“This agreement solidifies policy changes that ‘will protect students and other members of campus from harassment and discrimination’ and recommits the school to merit-based recruitment and admissions. These reforms exemplify bold leadership at Northwestern, and they serve as a roadmap for institutional leaders across the country and will help rebuild public trust in our colleges and universities,” McMahon said in a Justice Department press release announcing the settlement.
