The settlement requires Northwestern to pay the federal government $75 million through 2028 and comply with federal anti-discrimination laws. In exchange, the government will close all pending investigations and restore the university's eligibility for federal grants, contracts and awards, the Department of Justice announced.
Northwestern expects to begin receiving federal funding within days, with full restoration within 30 days for all active, federally-funded grants impacted by the freeze, including overdue payments for non-terminated grants and contracts, according to a university statement.
The agreement follows months of federal scrutiny over allegations of unlawful discrimination, including race-based admissions and a hostile environment for Jewish students. The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed in April that the freeze was tied to federal antisemitism investigations into the university.
"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. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the deal "recommits the school to merit-based hiring and admissions."
Under the settlement terms, Northwestern must establish clear policies for demonstrations, protests and expressive activities, and implement mandatory antisemitism training for students, faculty and staff. The agreement also terminates the university's 2024 Deering Meadow agreement, which had promised increased support for Muslim, Middle Eastern, North African and Palestinian students, along with greater transparency about university investments.
Additionally, the deal requires Northwestern to review its international student admissions process and create materials familiarizing those students with a campus "dedicated to inquiry and open debate." The university must meet Title IX obligations by providing safe opportunities for women "defined on the basis of sex," including single-sex housing and all-female sports facilities, locker rooms and showers.
Interim President Henry Bienen said that the payment is not an admission of guilt and insisted the university will maintain its autonomy.
"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 in a video statement. "Put simply, Northwestern runs Northwestern."
Bienen's remarks echo his stance at an October Faculty Assembly meeting, when faculty voted overwhelmingly to reject the Trump administration's "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education."
The $75 million settlement—the second-highest paid by any university to the Trump administration after Columbia University's $200 million payment in July—must be paid without using donor funds. Northwestern joins Columbia, Cornell, Brown, the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania among elite institutions that have reached agreements with the administration.
The funding freeze had devastating consequences on campus. More than 100 stop-work orders affected federally funded research, and more than $1.06 billion in awards from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation went unpaid. The resulting budget crisis led Northwestern to announce in July the elimination of more than 400 staff positions.
The upheaval also contributed to the September resignation of President Michael Schill, who cited "serious and often painful challenges" and warned that "difficult problems remain, particularly at the federal level."
Under the agreement, Northwestern's president and Board of Trustees chair will verify compliance quarterly, according to the DOJ.
The exact amount of frozen funding that will be restored remains unclear.
