Northwestern University has agreed to pay $75 million in a settlement with the Trump administration to restore hundreds of millions in federal funding that was withheld amid an investigation into alleged civil rights violations and antisemitism on campus.

The settlement, announced on Nov. 28, will reinstate nearly $800 million in federal funding that was frozen in April as the administration cracked down on universities including Northwestern, Cornell and others. The funding freeze came after the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers scrutinized college campuses for their handling of pro-Palestinian protests last year.

The agreement dictates that the Chicago-area school will pay $75 million to the U.S. Treasury Department over three years, according to news releases from the Department of Justice and the school. It also puts an end to the investigations into complaints over the school's admissions, policies on transgender students and handling of alleged antisemitism on campus.

The federal funding should be fully restored within 30 days, interim Northwestern President Henry Bienen said, adding that the agreement "ends a deeply painful and disruptive period in our university’s history."

Bienen, who took over as interim president after Michael Schill resigned the post in September, entered the stage during a politically fraught period of Northwestern's history. The payment to the government is not an admission of guilt, he said.

“Today’s settlement marks another victory in the Trump Administration’s fight to ensure that American educational institutions protect Jewish students and put merit first,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

Bienen said Northwestern maintains control over whom it hires, whom it accepts as students and what its faculty teaches.

"Northwestern runs Northwestern. Period," he said.

As part of the settlement, Northwestern will create a committee to ensure compliance with the terms, comply with federal anti-discrimination laws (which Bienen noted it already did) and terminate an agreement reached with pro-Palestinian protesters last year. The university said its recent policies enacted to support Jewish students will continue under the terms of the settlement.

The settlement also requires Northwestern to adhere to Title IX policies by providing “safe and fair opportunities for women, including single-sex housing for any woman, defined on the basis of sex, who requests such accommodations, and all-female sports, locker rooms and showering facilities.” It does not impose new restrictions on transgender members of the school community, Northwestern said.

Earlier this month, Cornell University, also targeted with a federal funding freeze, agreed to pay $30 million to the government and invest an equal amount into agricultural research to restore $250 million in frozen grant money.

Contributing: Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northwestern University to pay $75 million in deal with Trump admin

Reporting by Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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