Cornell University announced Friday that it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration to pay $30 million to restore roughly $250 million in funding that had been withheld from the New York school over accusations it had been engaging in antisemitism and racial discrimination against white students in admissions. Cornell will also spend $30 million in new “efficiency” focused agricultural research as part of the deal.
Cornell will pay the U.S. government $30 million in installments over the next three years, according to a copy of the agreement posted online. In exchange, the Trump administration will finally release hundreds of millions in funding that had been withheld since April, making it the fifth university to strike a deal with Trump over claims that the school was engaging in racial bias and antisemitism, according to the New York Times.
“The decades-long research partnership between Cornell and the federal government is critical to advancing the university’s core mission and to our continuing contributions to the nation’s health, welfare, and economic and military strength,” Cornell University president Michael I. Kotlikoff said in a statement posted online.
“This agreement revives that partnership, while affirming the university’s commitment to the principles of academic freedom, independence, and institutional autonomy that, from our founding, have been integral to our excellence,” Kotlikoff continued.
The agreement requires Cornell to invest in research programs that will lower the cost of food production, specifically calling out a need for artificial intelligence and robotics:
…Cornell shall invest the sum of Thirty Million Dollars ($30,000,000), payable in equal installments, over the three years following the Effective Date, in research programs that will directly benefit U.S. farmers through lower costs of production and enhanced efficiency, including but not limited to programs that incorporate Al and robotics, such as Digital Agriculture and Future Farming Technologies. These additional resources demonstrate Cornell’s and the United States’ longstanding commitment to assist America’s farmers.
Inflation has ticked up under President Donald Trump, with the price of food rising since he took office in January. But Trump said Thursday that he doesn’t want to hear about affordability, making the false claim that prices were coming down.
Trump touted a claim that Thanksgiving dinners would be less costly this year compared to 2024, citing Walmart, but he didn’t provide the proper context. Walmart’s Thanksgiving bundle does cost less this year, but the 2024 bundle included 29 items while the 2025 bundle contains 23, according to NBC News. The new bundle also includes more generic items.
White House Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston celebrated the news on X, tweeting: “@Potus delivers another majors WIN for American students! Under the President’s commonsense leadership, academic excellence, merit, and accountability will continue to be restored across America’s universities.”
It’s unclear why the university will pay $30 million to the federal government, and it’s unclear where that money will be spent. Trump has frequently diverted money that was supposed to be spent on one thing to another purpose that’s unrelated.
As Bloomberg notes, there doesn’t appear to be any requirement for Cornell to install an independent monitor, something that was required in Columbia’s settlement with the Trump administration. The school was under extreme financial strain when Trump pulled the funding and was even considering issuing $1 billion in bonds, according to the New York Times.
“The months of stop-work orders, grant terminations, and funding freezes have stalled cutting-edge research, upended lives and careers, and threatened the future of academic programs at Cornell,” Kotlikoff wrote. “I am grateful for the dedication and resilience of the faculty, staff, and students who have found ways to continue moving critical work forward throughout these unprecedented events.”
“With this resolution, Cornell looks forward to resuming the long and fruitful partnership with the federal government that has yielded, for so many years, so much progress and well-being for our nation and our world.”
English (US) ·