Why Trump administration froze Columbia University’s NIH research funding?

The Trump administration has cut off $250 million in biomedical research funding to Columbia University, Science reported. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed it will block new grants and pause payments for ongoing projects. Any access to existing funds now requires special approval. Internal records show the freeze will remain in place until further notice.

Trump freezes Columbia research funds

This decision comes just weeks after the White House began pressuring Columbia over its handling of anti-Israel protests and allegations of antisemitism on campus. Around the same time, Columbia agreed to some of the administration’s demands for campus reform. Last month, federal officials had already paused $400 million in grants. Education Secretary Linda McMahon later said the university seemed to be moving in the right direction. Instead of easing the restrictions, the government has now expanded them.

According to Science, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the freeze is part of a broader review of how universities handle discrimination. A spokesperson said the administration is working with other agencies to ensure taxpayer money doesn’t go to schools that fail to protect students from harassment. The statement linked the funding freeze to the administration’s wider efforts to monitor antisemitism and enforce fairness on college campuses.

Faculty members at Columbia criticized the move. Michael Thaddeus, a math professor and vice president of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors, called the decision “shocking but not surprising.” He argued the action is politically motivated and legally questionable. Thaddeus said the administration’s demands resemble threats rather than regulatory enforcement and believes legal action against the administration would stand a strong chance in court. Although Columbia has not sued, the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers have filed a lawsuit over the previous $400 million funding cut.

Reinhold Martin, president of the Columbia AAUP chapter, said the issue reflects a deeper shift in public funding. He believes the federal government is redirecting money away from nonprofit academic research and into the private sector. Columbia has said it has not yet received official notification about the latest freeze but remains in talks with federal officials.

Trump freezes funds at more universities

This action is part of a larger trend. The Trump administration also froze $1 billion in federal research grants to Cornell University and $750 million at Northwestern University. Both institutions learned of the cuts through media reports. Additional freezes hit Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University. In each case, the administration pointed to antisemitism allegations tied to recent protests.

According to an internal email seen by Science, NIH leadership confirmed that no new awards would be made to Columbia until further notice. The email said the agency had first paused a “wave” of grants and later expanded the freeze to cover all NIH funding. In 2024, Columbia received an estimated $690 million in research support from NIH.

The administration has named 60 universities under review for their handling of campus protests and their diversity and equity programs. While no formal civil rights complaints have been filed, officials say more reviews are underway. NIH is also examining its grant support for Harvard University as part of a wider federal review of billions in research spending.

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