The Trump administration moved this week to suspend dozens of federal grants to Princeton University, the fourth Ivy League school that has seen its financial support from Washington reduced or explicitly threatened since March.
Christopher L. Eisgruber, Princeton’s president, told the university community in an email late Tuesday morning that “several dozen” grants had been suspended.
“The full rationale for this action is not yet clear, but I want to be clear about the principles that will guide our response,” Mr. Eisgruber wrote. “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.”
Mr. Eisgruber said that the university had been told on Monday and Tuesday that it was losing at least some research support from the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and NASA. The university did not immediately announce the dollar value of the affected grants.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the Trump administration has eagerly pursued elite universities in recent weeks.
The administration stripped Columbia University of $400 million in grants and contracts in March, and later suspended about $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania. On Monday afternoon, the administration said it was reviewing approximately $9 billion in arrangements with Harvard University and its web of affiliates.
Columbia agreed to a list of demands, and the Trump administration has said it was considering resuming the university’s funding.
The choice of Princeton was something of a surprise. Although conservatives have vilified the university, a new federal task force focused on antisemitism did not include Princeton in a February list of 10 colleges that it said “may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination.”
In a statement on Monday evening, the board of the Association of American Universities, a powerful industry group, warned that cutting off research funding “for reasons unrelated to research sets a dangerous and counterproductive precedent.”
The board, currently chaired by Mr. Eisgruber, urged the government to follow “established procedures” to investigate accusations of discrimination.
According to Princeton’s most recent financial report, the university received more than $455 million through government grants and contracts during the fiscal year that ended in June 2024. That money accounted for roughly 18 percent of the university’s revenues.
Alan Blinder is a national correspondent for The Times, covering education. More about Alan Blinder
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