Signs are displayed outside a tent camp at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois on April 26, 2024.
Teresa Crawford/AP
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Teresa Crawford/AP
The Justice Department announced Friday that Northwestern University has agreed to pay the Trump administration $75 million to settle a discrimination investigation at the school and restore federal funding that was withheld during the investigation.
“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,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“Entities that accept federal funds are obligated to follow civil rights law – we are grateful to Northwestern for negotiating this historic deal.”
Northwestern is one of several schools caught up in President Trump’s campaign against university policies, which he has denounced as “woke.”
Notably, the Illinois private school was one of 60 colleges accused by the Department of Education of retreating from their obligations to “protect Jewish students on campus, including unhindered access to campus facilities and educational opportunities” amid heated university protests against the war in Gaza.
In April, the White House announced it was withholding approximately $790 million in federal funds from Northwestern while the government investigated the claims. According to the school newspaper, interim university president Henry Bienen said in a statement to university personnel that “payment is not an admission of guilt.” The Daily Northwestern,
Earlier this month, Cornell reached a settlement requiring the university to pay $60 million to recoup $250 million withheld by the Trump administration over alleged civil rights violations. The private Ivy League university said the agreement “does not come at the cost of compromising our values or freedoms.”
According to the agreement, Northwestern will pay $75 million by 2028 and, according to the DOJ, will “maintain clear policies and procedures related to demonstrations, protests, and other expressive activities, as well as implement mandatory anti-Semitism training for all students, faculty, and staff.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the agreement “a major victory” for higher education.
“The deal solidifies policy changes that ‘will protect students and other members of the campus from harassment and discrimination,’ and it commits the school to merit-based hiring and admissions,” he said in a statement.
He said, “The reforms reflect bold leadership at Northwestern, and they are a roadmap for institutional leaders across the country that will help rebuild public trust in our colleges and universities.”
A lecturer posted on the university’s website said the school decided to negotiate a settlement rather than risk it in court, citing the cost of the legal battle as “too high and the risks too serious”.
Northwestern’s Bienen said in a video statement that the school will retain its academic freedom and autonomy from the federal government.
“There were many red lines that I, the Board of Trustees and the university leadership refused to cross. I would not have signed anything that would have given the federal government the power to dictate who we hire, what they teach, who we admit or what they study,” Bienen said.
“Simply put, Northwestern runs Northwestern.”
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