The Trump administration has frozen roughly $210 million in federal funds to Princeton University amid an ongoing investigation into allegations of antisemitism, according to an administration official who spoke with the Daily Caller. The official said the funding pause is not the final outcome of the investigation.
“Princeton has perpetuated racist and anti-semitic policies,” the official told the Caller, as reported by Reagan Reese on X.
The U.S. Department of Education launched the investigation in April of 2024 following a January complaint filed by Zachary Marschall, editor-in-chief of the conservative website Campus Reform, the Daily Princetonian reported.
Princeton joined several top universities, including Harvard and Yale, under investigation by the Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin at institutions receiving federal funding.
According to Campus Reform, Marschall’s complaint referenced chants from an Oct. 25 walkout in support of Palestine, including “Brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall,” along with language referencing the intifadas.
Marschall has filed at least a dozen Title VI complaints. The OCR received the complaints against Princeton and Northwestern on the same day. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency recently described Marschall as “the most prolific filer of antisemitism complaints filed under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act since Oct. 7.”
On campus, reactions have been mixed. Multiple Jewish students and staff told the Daily Princetonian at the time that while antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric had been present, they did not believe it was a campus-wide problem.
“There has been rhetoric on Princeton’s campus, as on many campuses, that has been deeply disturbing to some in the Jewish community, who feel that such rhetoric could create a hostile environment to Jewish people who support Israel’s right to exist,” Rabbi Gil Steinlauf, executive director of the Center for Jewish Life, wrote to the Daily Princetonian.
Rabbi Eitan Webb of Princeton’s Chabad House pointed to the University’s policy on banning amplified sound during protests and updates to no-contact order protocols as efforts to foster a “safe and healthy environment.”
He added, “Although administrations can signal with policies, and they must, students also have [the] power to set the tone for a campus.” Webb noted that students visited Israel during spring break, including sites of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, and met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
In March 2025, Princeton’s Resources Committee announced that a proposal for the University to divest from certain Israeli companies would not proceed. The proposal was reportedly rejected due to a lack of consensus within the campus community.
Meanwhile, the university’s Judaic Studies department is currently hosting a 2024-25 Lecture Series on Antisemitism, the ADL reported.
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