Overview
- On Last Week Tonight, Oliver details how the administration has tied federal research money to university compliance, describing a sweeping effort to reshape higher education.
- He points to a Trump-created Task Force to Combat Antisemitism that targeted protest-active campuses with the stated aim of taking away their funding.
- Columbia, he says, agreed to conditions including ending race-conscious admissions and paying $200 million, yet later saw roughly $700 million in NIH funding frozen and faced accreditation threats.
- Oliver notes that Northwestern still has about $790 million in grants on hold despite attempting to preempt demands, with layoffs and the university president’s resignation following.
- He and other critics warn the freezes risk crippling U.S. research and innovation, citing estimates that each NIH dollar generates $2.56 in economic activity.