The president of Princeton University announced Tuesday that the Trump administration has suspended “several dozen” federal grants for the Ivy League — but claims it’s “not yet clear” why.
Princeton University president Chris Eisgruber notified students and faculty of the suspended research grants, which include funds from the Department of Energy, NASA and the Department of Defense, in email sent one day after the Daily Caller reported that the Trump administration would freeze $210 million in federal funding to the New Jersey school as it probes antisemitism on campus.
“The full rationale for this action is not yet clear, but I want to be clear about the principles that will guide our response,” Eisgruber wrote in the email obtained by The Post.
“Princeton University will comply with the law,” Eisgruber continued. “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.”
A Trump administration official told the Daily Caller on Monday that Princeton has “perpetuated racist and antisemitic policies.”
The official noted that the decision to suspend the funds bound for the elite school does not mean that the administration’s antisemitism probe has concluded.
The investigation into antisemitism at Princeton was launched in April of 2024 after Zachary Marschall, the editor-in-chief of the conservative website Campus Reform, filed a complaint with the Department of Education over Princeton’s alleged failure to respond to antisemitism on campus.
Marschall cited an Oct. 25, 2023, anti-Israel protest at the university — just weeks after the Hamas terrorist attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7 — where he claimed chants of “Intifada” and “Brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall” were heard.
”The violent words of these protesters completely disregard the atrocities Hamas has already committed and promises to commit in the future against the people of Israel, including raping, murdering, and kidnapping civilians,” Marschall wrote in the complaint, according to Campus Reform.
Princeton was one of 60 colleges and universities that the Department of Education’s civil rights arm warned earlier this month could have federal funding taken away over alleged antisemitic discrimination and harassment on campus.
The university, which has an endowment of more than $34 billion, received $456 million in funding from government grants and contracts last year, according to the school’s annual report.
The Anti-Defamation League gave Princeton an “F” grade last year for the way it handles antisemitism on campus.
President Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which includes the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration, previously froze about $400 million in federal funds from Columbia University over antisemitism concerns.
Earlier this month, Columbia University agreed to adhere to nine preconditions to gain back its federal funding.
On Monday, the Trump administration announced that the antisemitism task force is also probing more than $8.7 billion worth of multi-year federal grant commitments with Harvard University.
The Trump administration is using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — which prohibits institutions of higher education from receiving federal money if they participate in or enable discrimination based on race, national origin, religion or other characteristics — to hold back the taxpayer-funded grants.
