Cornell Returns to Merit Based Education in DoJ Settlement

Cornell University reached an agreement with the Trump administration to “immediately restore” its frozen federal funding. This comes after months-long negotiations over alleged civil rights violations, the school announced on Friday.

The multimillion-dollar agreement will be paid out over three years. Cornell agreed to invest $30 million into U.S. agriculture research. They will pay another $30 million that will go directly to the federal government. It ends all other claims.

This follows massive deals with the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Brown in recent months.

The lawsuit dealt with their DEI practices, and their failure to address antisemitism. The university will now base their practices on merit.

Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff maintained that it had not done any wrongdoing or broken federal civil rights laws.

Cornell’s New Obligations

Cornell will conduct annual campus climate surveys. The purpose is to ensure that Jewish students are safe and that anti-Semitism is being addressed.

Cornell’s president must certify quarterly, under penalty of perjury, that Cornell is in full compliance with all provisions of this agreement. This includes compliance with Title VI, Title IX, and other civil rights laws. Cornell agrees to use the Department of Justice’s July 2025 “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination” as a training resource for faculty and staff.

Cornell’s policies and practices—including alleged use of DEI rubrics in faculty hiring, racial identity-based scholarships, and alleged anti-Semitic discrimination in campus programs and policies—raised urgent concerns about equal opportunity and potential noncompliance with Federal law.

By securing this settlement, the Trump Administration is ensuring that Cornell upholds merit-based standards. They must also comply with Federal law, and foster an environment of academic excellence and safety for all students.

The agreement ensures Cornell will comply with Federal civil rights laws and end any unlawful racial discrimination in admissions or university programming. Cornell will provide the Federal government access to all relevant data and information. It will enable them to rigorously assess compliance with its commitment to merit-based admissions

President Kotlikoff Maintains University Rights

In a statement to the Cornell community, Kotlikoff noted “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.”

“In short, it recognizes our rights, as a private university, to define the conditions on our campuses that advance learning and produce new knowledge,” the statement added.