The Trump administration has suspended several dozen research grants to Princeton, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 wrote in a campus-wide email on Tuesday. The grants were issued from several federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, NASA, and the Defense Department.
The exact amount in question and the reasoning for the pause itself are unclear, and Eisgruber acknowledged only the latter in his statement. But the Daily Caller, a right-wing news organization, reported last night that the government would halt $210 million in federal funding to Princeton due to an ongoing investigation of antisemitism on campus, citing an anonymous Trump official.
“Princeton University will comply with the law. We are committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we will cooperate with the government in combating antisemitism. Princeton will also vigorously defend academic freedom and the due process rights of this University,” Eisgruber’s email read. It also said that the University had been notified of the suspensions yesterday and today.
This pause comes on the heels of recent pauses or cuts to funding at Harvard, Penn, and Columbia. The government also announced yesterday that it would review more than $8 billion in grants at Harvard as part of a federal task force on antisemitism.
According to the Daily Caller, an administration official said that the funds would be paused while the Department of Education continues to investigate Princeton for allegations of antisemitism under Title VI. The investigation dates back to last April, when Zachary Marschall, the editor-in-chief of the conservative website Campus Reform, filed antisemitism complaints with the Department of Education against Princeton and at least a dozen other universities. Marschall does not have any Princeton affiliation.
Marschall’s complaint cites several instances of alleged antisemitism during the pro-Palestine protests of last year. The complaint includes, among other events, chants from an Oct. 25 walkout, including “Brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall” and calls for “intifada.”
The amount paused reported by the Daily Caller would represent nearly half of Princeton’s government funding pool. The University received $455 million in grants and contracts from government sources in the 2024 fiscal year.
Eisgruber has been unusually outspoken about the Trump administration’s threats to federal university funding, taking to the pages of the Atlantic earlier this month to criticize the cancellation of $400 million in grants to Columbia University. He reiterated the importance of academic freedom in a later interview to PBS and warned about making concessions to the government, saying that “once you make concessions once, it's hard not to make them again.”
Until now, Princeton had received less national scrutiny than many of its peer institutions, especially for its actions during the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” The University has not seen any significant high-level administrative turnover in the past year and a half, with Eisgruber being the second longest-serving president in the Ivy League.
But last week, the University announced it would freeze most faculty hiring and avoid staff growth, a sign that the University perceives that funding threats from the federal government could significantly disrupt its usual operations. The University has also spoken out against a substantially increased endowment tax floated by Trump administration officials, with Eisgruber arguing that such a move would be damaging in his State of the University letter in January.
In a rare statement yesterday directly from its board of directors, which Eisgruber chairs, the American Association of Universities (AAU) condemned the “withdrawal of research funding for reasons unrelated to research.” The statement did not address the case of any specific school, but the AAU broadly represents a coalition of 70 research universities.
“We urge the administration and Congress … to work through the established Department of Education and Department of Justice procedures for investigating allegations of discrimination,” the statement read. “Following these established procedures is the best way to ensure accountability by universities and to preserve our nation’s place as the global leader in science and innovation.”
Christopher Bao is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Princeton, N.J. and typically covers town politics and life.
Cynthia Torres is an assistant News editor and an Archives contributor. She is from New Bedford, Mass. and typically covers University administration.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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