Cornell agrees to pay $60 million in agreement with Trump administration [View all]

Source: Washington Post

November 7, 2025 at 12:38 p.m. EST


Cornell University agreed to pay $30 million to the federal government and invest an additional $30 million in research on farming, in a deal with the Trump administration that closes federal investigations and restores the university’s research funding.

The agreement “explicitly recognizes Cornell’s right to independently establish our policies and procedures, choose whom to hire and admit, and determine what we teach, without intrusive government monitoring or approvals,” the university’s president, Michael I. Kotlikoff, said in a message to the campus community Friday.

But it does require the university to report information to the federal government, such as anonymized admissions data and climate surveys. The university was not found in violation of Title VI of federal civil rights law in any of the investigations and compliance reviews launched by federal agencies this year, Kotlikoff wrote.

The agreement will restore all the federal research funding that has been frozen at the school for months, and the school is eligible for future funding.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/11/07/cornell-university-deal-trump/