Last week, Cornell University made a big announcement. The Ivy League school had made a long awaited deal with the Trump administration to get back hundreds of millions in federal funding.
The deal also closes federal investigations into the university over allegations of civil rights violations, including alleged antisemitism.
WSKG’s Aurora Berry spoke with News Director Phoebe Taylor-Vuolo about the specifics of the settlement and what it means for Cornell and Tompkins County.
The transcript and audio have been edited for clarity.
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Phoebe Taylor-Vuolo: Aurora, how does this deal compare to the deals other universities have struck?
Aurora Berry: So all of these agreements have been different. Cornell is the fifth university that’s taken a deal, following Columbia, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia.
Like at Columbia and Brown, this Cornell agreement comes with a price tag. So, Cornell falls in the middle of these two universities in terms of their payout. Cornell will be paying $60 million altogether over 3 years as part of this deal.
Like at Columbia, Cornell is making a direct payment to the federal government, $30 million to be exact. Columbia, on the other hand, paid $200 million earlier this year.
But like at Brown, Cornell is also tasked with making specific investments: $30 million to agricultural research, with a focus on AI and robotics. Brown had to pay out $50 million for workforce development.
UVA and UPenn—both of them are public universities—didn’t have to pay anything. Their deals were more about actions they had to take.
PTV: What action items are we seeing in this deal?
AB: Well one big thing we’re seeing is that Cornell is going to have to report its anonymized admissions data, including data on race, to the federal government quarterly. That’s in line with what the Trump administration has done at other universities.
I had some questions about this legal document, because I am not a lawyer. So I spoke to an attorney who specializes in higher education, James Nussbaum.
He says that as an attorney, those reporting requirements would make him a bit nervous.
JAMES NUSSBAUM: “That ongoing duty to report makes me wonder if more of those could be coming, and this isn't final as it may seem.”
AB: I was also interested in a condition that I had seen some folks worried about, and that’s the use of the document “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination” as a training resource.
PTV: And what is that?
AB: Well it was released by Attorney General Pam Bondi. It predominantly focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, specifically the ways that Bondi says they can violate federal antidiscrimination laws.
It also says that federally funded programs shouldn’t allow transgender women to play on women's sports teams or use women's restrooms.
PTV: So what does this mean in practice, for Cornell to be using that guidance as a training resource?
AB: Well, that’s something that we’re going to see play out over time. The text of the agreement just says they have to use it as a training resource. That means there’s some flexibility with interpretation, according to that higher ed attorney James Nussbaum. But he says it would be difficult to ignore it completely.
JN: “Because you don't want to get hauled back in for violating the agreement. But I do think there's probably some wiggle room to say, ‘Hey, this is what that guidance is and here's how we're interpreting that.’”
AB: So that’s something I’m looking out for: how that guidance is interpreted and what that means for people who are working and getting an education at Cornell.
I will say that this is different from let’s say the Brown agreement, where the settlement directly requires the university to adopt the Trump administration's definition of “male” and “female” which is based on sex assigned at birth.
PTV: Back in June, Cornell did announce that it would begin budget cuts and layoffs amid all of this financial stress. Under this deal, the university pays $60 million. But the feds also will restore hundreds of millions in federal funding. What does this settlement mean for those cost cutting measures?
AB: This is a great question, Phoebe. As an aside for people listening who might need a reminder, Cornell is the largest employer in Tompkins County by a long shot.
After this deal was announced, I obviously asked Cornell’s media representatives a couple of follow up questions.
I asked if the university plans to lift its hiring freeze given this development, and if the university will continue implementing the other cost cutting measures announced over the summer, including reducing its staff count.
PTV: And what did they say?
AB: Well, they didn’t answer either of those questions directly. I was redirected to the public statement made by Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff announcing the deal and the agreement itself. We do know that in a Cornell Q&A, Kotlikoff said this doesn’t solve Cornell’s financial issues.
If you remember, Phoebe, when we talked about this last, he cited increased costs due to inflation and the growth of Cornell‘s workforce since June 2021 as reasons for cuts over the summer, in addition to funding loss.
So unfortunately, right now I don’t have a direct answer for people who are looking to see what this deal means for Cornell employees, and by extension a significant chunk of the economy out here in Tompkins County.
PTV: Well, I’m sure you’ll keep reporting on this. Thank you so much for explaining everything this way, Aurora, for being here.
AB: Sure, thank you for having me.