Cornell and Northwestern became the latest universities to lose federal funding on Tuesday, over what the Trump administration considers a failure to address antisemitism on campus. 

The White House announced it would freeze more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern, according to The New York Times. The cuts come as the administration has launched a pressure campaign against dozens of elite colleges to crack down on the antisemitic demonstrations that have roiled campuses since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks — or risk losing federal funding. 

Cornell and Northwestern were among the 60 universities put on notice last month by the Department of Education that they could face financial cuts “if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.” 

Cornell’s new president, Michael Kotlikoff, told Jewish Insider last month — one week into his new role — that he was confident that the Ithaca, N.Y., Ivy League campus wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of other elite universities that lost federal funding due to campus antisemitism.  

“We think we have a very strong environment for Jews on campus,” Kotlikoff told JI on March 28. “We’ve had two very strong semesters. I’ve talked to a lot of Jewish student leaders on campus and I think everybody appreciates the fact that, with the exception of a couple of incidents that have occurred on campus and we’ve dealt with, people have seen a pretty normal semester.” 

Still, Cornell is among several universities that recently initiated a hiring freeze amid financial uncertainty around the possibility of funding cuts. 

In a statement to JI, Jon Yates, a spokesperson for Northwestern, said that the university has been informed of the funding freeze only by “members of the media” but it “has not received any official notification from the federal government.” 

Yates expressed concern that medical research led by the university is “now at jeopardy.”

He added, “The university has fully cooperated with investigations by both the Department of Education and Congress.” A spokesperson for Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Brown, Columbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton have all faced similar penalties over the past month.