In a scene that is becoming familiar, two powerful universities were rocked this week by rumors that the Trump administration would pull hundreds of millions in funding, with little to do but wait to learn the details.
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On Tuesday afternoon, an internal National Institutes of Health email reviewed by The Washington Post showed that agency leadership had ordered funding to be frozen at Northwestern University, Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine. That evening, Cornell’s president and provost emailed the Cornell community saying the university had received stop-work orders on 75 research grants from the Defense Department, but without any formal notification detailing the reasons or path forward.
Wednesday morning — 24 hours after a Fox News reporter posted on social media that more than $1 billion in federal funding to Cornell and about $790 million to Northwestern had been frozen Monday in connection with federal civil rights law investigations — university officials were still trying to get answers.
For Columbia University, which has been reeling from losing $400 million in federal funding, including the termination of several hundred grants, internal emails at NIH showed that the agency was now moving to freeze all funding. That meant that no new grants would be awarded and that the university would be blocked from receiving funds from existing grants.
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The Trump administration has been clear about some of its concerns with higher education. The multiagency Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism has moved swiftly to investigate whether schools have done enough to protect Jewish students on campus, with concerns heightened by protests over the Israel-Gaza war last year.
On Thursday, the House Education Committee announced that it would call another group of college presidents to testify next month about what it says was the mishandling of violent, antisemitic campus protests.
Some of the high-profile announcements about funding freezes have been brief and not sent directly to school officials.
Education Department and White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
With billions in funding threatened and a long-standing close partnership with the federal government at stake, university leaders scrambled to consider options. Some considered whether they could bridge some costs for research or scale back ambitious projects. Other options included finding ways to reach consensus with the government or to challenge it in court.
Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.On Tuesday afternoon, an internal National Institutes of Health email reviewed by The Washington Post showed that agency leadership had ordered funding to be frozen at Northwestern University, Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine. That evening, Cornell’s president and provost emailed the Cornell community saying the university had received stop-work orders on 75 research grants from the Defense Department, but without any formal notification detailing the reasons or path forward.
Wednesday morning — 24 hours after a Fox News reporter posted on social media that more than $1 billion in federal funding to Cornell and about $790 million to Northwestern had been frozen Monday in connection with federal civil rights law investigations — university officials were still trying to get answers.
For Columbia University, which has been reeling from losing $400 million in federal funding, including the termination of several hundred grants, internal emails at NIH showed that the agency was now moving to freeze all funding. That meant that no new grants would be awarded and that the university would be blocked from receiving funds from existing grants.
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In recent weeks, some of the nation’s most prestigious universities have found out by social media or emails that federal funding totaling billions was threatened. In some cases, they don’t know why.The Trump administration has been clear about some of its concerns with higher education. The multiagency Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism has moved swiftly to investigate whether schools have done enough to protect Jewish students on campus, with concerns heightened by protests over the Israel-Gaza war last year.
On Thursday, the House Education Committee announced that it would call another group of college presidents to testify next month about what it says was the mishandling of violent, antisemitic campus protests.
Some of the high-profile announcements about funding freezes have been brief and not sent directly to school officials.
Education Department and White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
With billions in funding threatened and a long-standing close partnership with the federal government at stake, university leaders scrambled to consider options. Some considered whether they could bridge some costs for research or scale back ambitious projects. Other options included finding ways to reach consensus with the government or to challenge it in court.
