Jewish leaders with ties to Northwestern University are cautiously celebrating a $75 million settlement reached on Friday with the Trump administration to restore federal funding that was frozen earlier this year over allegations that administrators failed to address campus antisemitism.

Under the agreement — which will restore at least $790 million in funding that was frozen in April — the Illinois private university agreed to end its commitment to the Deering Meadow agreement, a controversial pact made with anti-Israel encampment participants in the spring of 2024. The agreement allowed students to protest the war in Gaza until the end of the school year so long as tents were removed and encouraged employers not to rescind job offers for student protesters. The document also allowed students to weigh in on university investments — a major concession for students who had demanded the university divest from Israel.   

The school’s settlement with the Department of Justice also stipulates that Northwestern commit to “clear policies and procedures” around demonstrations, protests and other “expressive activities” and implement mandatory antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff. 

“This is a major victory in the administration’s efforts to root out institutionalized antisemitism on college campuses,” Rich Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern, told Jewish Insider. “The White House won a complete termination of the deal Northwestern had cut with its pro-Hamas encampment along with an important ban on disrupting the campus while wearing masks. Now comes implementation and enforcement to ensure life improves for Jewish students and the university’s antisemitic DEI infrastructure gets fully dismantled.” 

Goldberg said he’d also like to see Northwestern “welcome Chabad on to campus as a recognized Jewish organization, which would send a strong next signal of the university changing direction.”   

“The agreement contains important commitments, but Northwestern has an extensive record of failing to enforce its own policies,” the Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern said in a statement to JI. “The real test is whether the university finally delivers safety and equal treatment for Jewish students. We intend to monitor every step of implementation.”

“This agreement reflects progress, but Northwestern’s leadership still has a long way to go,” said CAAN, a coalition of Northwestern students, parents, alumni, faculty and trustees. “Jewish students have endured two years of escalating hostility, and trust will only be rebuilt through real enforcement.” 

Michael Simon, executive director of Northwestern Hillel, told JI that in light of the deal, “We reiterate Northwestern Hillel’s unwavering commitment to working with University administrators, faculty and community partners to build on efforts underway to combat antisemitism and promote a campus climate that is safe and conducive to learning and exploration for everyone at Northwestern. The entire campus community has a critical role to play in countering antisemitism and all forms of hate.” 

The settlement comes two months after Michael Schill, Northwestern’s former president, announced his resignation amid a series of controversies during his brief tenure. When anti-Israel encampments emerged on college campuses across the country in spring 2024, Schill, who is Jewish, became the first university president to strike a deal with demonstrators. The deal allowed the students to avoid disciplinary action taken and acceded to several demands of the protesters, which drew strong condemnation from many Jewish leaders at the time. In an August interview with the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Schill appeared unfazed to hear that a Palestinian professor he hired as part of the deal with encampment protesters had once met with slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. 

At the time of Schill’s resignation, Jewish alumni expressed optimism that his departure, and the House interview being made public, would lead Northwestern leaders to make reforms. Henry Bienen, who served as Northwestern president from 1995-2009, assumed the role of interim university president in September. Bienen previously established Northwestern’s Qatar campus, which has faced scrutiny for faculty ties to Hamas.

Bienen said in a video statement that under the settlement, the school would retain its academic freedom and autonomy from the federal government.

“There were several red lines that I, the board of trustees and university leadership refused to cross. I would not have signed anything that would have given the federal government any say in who we hire, what they teach, who we admit or what they study,” Bienen said. “Put simply, Northwestern runs Northwestern.”

Northwestern is required to pay $75 million to the federal government through 2028 without the use of donor funds. The figure is the second-highest fine any university has agreed to pay to the Trump administration so far, following Columbia University’s settlement of more than $200 million to the government in July. Several other elite institutions have reached deals with the Trump administration in recent months, including Columbia, Cornell University, Brown University, the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania. Some of the settlements, such as Brown’s, have focused primarily on money, rather than campus reforms. 

“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. “Institutions that accept federal funds are obligated to follow civil rights law — we are grateful to Northwestern for negotiating this historic deal.”