Following the Trump administration’s move to freeze $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University, some professors are calling on the university to fight back
Cornell was one of 60 universities that received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education in March saying federal funding could be pulled from colleges under investigation for antisemitic discrimination and harassment. The White House said funding will stay locked while alleged civil rights violations are investigated.
Risa Lieberwitz, president of Cornell’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, who is also a professor in the School of Labor and Relations, said that was the wrong choice.
“This is a time to act on principle, and it's a time to be brave,” she said.
Lieberwitz said the Trump administration is trying to dismantle democratic institutions, including universities.
She said Cornell should stand up against potential demands from the White House.
“History also tells us that when institutions capitulate to autocratic demands, then the authoritarian government simply demands more,” she said.
Lieberwitz drew parallels to the McCarthy era of the 1940s and 1950s, when academics and leftists were targeted in an anti-communist campaign.
“Institutions that stood up are remembered for standing up to that power and that coercion, they're remembered for their acts of bravery,” she said. “Institutions that capitulated are remembered for their willingness to cave to autocratic demands.”
In a statement last week, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff said the U.S. Department of Defense sent the university over 75 stop work orders on research he described as crucial to national defense, cybersecurity, and health.
“The affected grants include research into new materials for jet engines, propulsion systems, large-scale information networks, robotics, superconductors, and space and satellite communications, as well as cancer research,” Kotlikoff wrote.
Cornell, he added, has “worked diligently to create an environment where all individuals and viewpoints are protected and respected.”
He said the university is committed to working with its “federal partners” to continue research.
Funding has already been frozen at several other Ivy League universities, including Harvard and Columbia.
The Trump administration froze $9 billion in funding to Harvard and sent the university a list of demands it would have to meet to have its funding released. They include banning masks at protests and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campus.
On Monday, Harvard rejected those demands. In a statement, university President Alan M. Garber said “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
The White House also sent a list of demands to Columbia, which saw $400 million in frozen funding. The university then agreed to the demands, releasing a list of actions in late March. They included banning some masks, hiring over 30 “special officers” with the power to arrest people on campus, and putting the school’s Middle Eastern Studies Department into academic receivership, which puts the university’s administration in control of the program.