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Cornell Strikes $60 Million Deal With Trump Administration to Restore More Than $250 Million in Research Funding

The settlement exemplifies the administration’s strategy of tying research funds to civil-rights enforcement on campus.

Overview

  • Federal agencies will restore terminated grants and treat Cornell as eligible for future awards while closing pending civil-rights investigations.
  • The terms require $30 million paid to the U.S. government over three years and $30 million committed to agricultural research supporting American farmers through 2028.
  • Cornell must provide anonymized undergraduate admissions data through 2028, conduct annual campus climate surveys including for students with shared Jewish ancestry, and use DOJ civil-rights guidance for training.
  • President Michael I. Kotlikoff must personally certify compliance under penalty of perjury, and the university says the agreement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
  • The deal joins recent settlements with Columbia, Brown, Penn and UVA yet does not impose an independent monitor, as administration officials cast the outcome as a victory over DEI policies.