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Trump Administration Freezes $175 Million in Funds to UPenn over Trans Athletes

HeadlineMar 20, 2025

The University of Pennsylvania is the latest school to be targeted by the Trump administration, which announced it’s suspending $175 million in federal funding to the Ivy League university as a penalty for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports.

This comes as Columbia is reportedly on the verge of acquiescing to Trump’s nine demands issued in order for his administration to restore $400 million in funding. The demands include banning face masks, ramping up Columbia’s law enforcement authority and placing the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department under “academic receivership,” or external oversight. Trump set a deadline of today for Columbia to respond.

Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber is calling on “universities and their leaders [to] speak up and litigate forcefully to protect their rights.” In a piece for the The Atlantic, Eisgruber calls Trump’s attack on Columbia the “greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s.” He added, “Robust federal funding helped make American universities the world’s best, but it also created a huge risk.”

Meanwhile, the University of California said Wednesday it will stop requiring diversity statements in its hiring and imposed a systemwide hiring freeze amid threats by President Trump to withhold federal funds.

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