When Prof. Gregory Falco, mechanical and aerospace engineering, received a stop-work order last Spring, the word he used to describe the experience was “jarring.” Eight months later, Cornell struck a $60 million deal with the Trump administration to reinstate frozen federal funding — yet Falco’s response was not hopeful.
“It honestly didn't mean anything,” Falco said in explaining his reaction to the settlement deal.
On Nov. 7, Cornell reached a settlement with the U.S. government to restore all previously paused federal funding. In exchange, the University agreed to pay a $30 million fine to the federal government and invest another $30 million into agriculture research. The settlement also negotiated the closure of several civil rights investigations into the University.
During the months-long pause of approximately $250 million worth of federal funding, the impacts were felt throughout the Cornell community. Since April, over 120 stop work orders — directions from a contracting officer to a contractor to stop all or parts of their research — have halted projects across all of Cornell’s campuses. These directives have also contributed to the financial insecurity of Cornell, as announced in several University statements made this summer.
In the wake of the settlement, The Sun spoke to students, faculty and alumni to share their perspectives on the deal and reflect on the impact of the lost funding.
Researchers' Responses
For Falco, in the months after his project on the cybersecurity of the semiconductor industry was paused, he says he had to navigate the issue of insufficient funding to pay his lab’s graduate students. Supported in part by a $3 million grant from the Department of Defense, Falco says he was also left wondering what the value of his research was.
“My research — it's about years of relationships and trust building,” Falco said. “If, you know, money is turned on one day and turned off the next day … this is a signal that our work is not valuable in the way that we thought it was”
Falco, who says his work is defense-oriented and “deeply aligned with the national security community,” found it hard to understand why his research was targeted despite the long-established relationships he cultivated with project managers at the DOD. Looking forward, he says he will now seek out sources of funding predominantly external to the government.
However, for other faculty members, like Prof. Martha Field, nutritional sciences, the settlement meant she could finally get back to work. Before her project was paused by the federal government last spring, Field had been conducting research on micronutrients, like vitamin B12 and folate. When the stop-work order arrived, it halted her project midway through.
“The ‘stop work’ order meant that we [were] only half way there. We had collected samples that showed adverse changes in mitochondrial DNA as a result altered dietary folate availability, but we had not yet answered the ultimate question of HOW this affects energy production.” Field wrote to The Sun. “Now, we are able to finish these last experiments and measure what was our most relevant outcome!”
Organized Pushback
In the hours and days that followed the settlement’s announcement, several Cornell-based clubs and associations organized responses.
On Nov. 7, just hours after the settlement was publicized, Cornell’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors published a statement that addressed specific line items of the agreement.
“The agreement contains harmful provisions, which in some areas go well beyond what the law requires.” Cornell AAUP wrote.
Cornell Graduate Students United held a town hall meeting on Nov. 11 to provide “a close reading of the deal and the real implications for our community,” according to an Instagram post announcing the event.
In a statement to The Sun, CGSU denounced the settlement deal and criticized the 15-minute-long virtual town hall President Michael Kotlikoff held on Nov. 7 to address the negotiated agreement. CGSU claimed that administrators didn’t answer questions posed by the Cornell community, despite the open call for questions before the meeting.
“[At the town hall,] we witnessed first hand the disregard President Kotlikoff showed towards our community,” CGSU wrote. “The only thing President Kotlikoff conveyed was that we should read the agreement closely. So we did.”
Multiple undergraduate groups, including Cornell Progressives, Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for a Democratic Cornell, took to social media to make posts criticizing Cornell’s decision. One such group was the Cornell chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Sam Poole ’28, an organizer for the Cornell YDSA reflected on the settlement.
“Reading the deal itself, yeah, I mean, I wasn't thrilled. Needless to say,” Poole said.
A long time advocate against Cornell reaching an agreement with the Trump Administration, Poole did however acknowledge that the outcome could have been worse.
Of the five schools that have settled with the Trump administration to restore federal funding, Columbia University was forced to pay a nearly $220 million fine and implement an independent monitor.
Poole believes the reason Cornell’s settlement did not include measures like Columbia’s was because of the pressure that activists, students, and faculty alike have put on the University in the past.
“I think, you know, without that pressure, if there wasn't an eye on it, if there weren't news articles coming out of The Sun, if the Student Assembly wasn't watching this very closely … then the administration wouldn't have had as much pressure on them not to cave.” Poole said. “I think the deal very well could have been worse.”
Cornell Courage
The alumni group Cornell Courage had only been founded for a few weeks when the news of the settlement broke. At the time, they had hoped to send Kotlikoff a letter urging him not to strike a deal with the federal government, but they immediately changed tactics after the agreement was announced.
Now, the fledgling group is trying to gather signatures on an open letter to Cornell’s leadership that calls on Cornell to “minimize the damage” of the settlement “now that Cornell has bound itself to this Agreement.” While the letter calls for a greater dialogue from administrators, it also asks the University to consider eliminating or modifying portions of the agreement.
In an interview with The Sun, an organizer for Cornell Courage, who requested anonymity due to concerns over client confidentiality, underscored the organization's concerns surrounding Cornell’s acceptance of Department of Justice anti-discrimination guidelines as training material for faculty and staff.
This guidance deems race-based decisions on admissions and hiring, diversity equity and inclusion programs, transgender athletes in sports and more as “unlawful.”
While the group is still young, the organizer, who is a 1968 alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences, says it has been gaining traction since the settlement was finalized.
“I can just tell you we're getting lots of calls, lots of emails, lots of gestures of support,” the organizer said.
Though the organizer notes that the role of Cornell’s alumni in responding to the University’s settlement is only one voice among many community stakeholders, they say alumni feel the weight of Cornell’s decision differently.
“I, as an alumni, have a particular interest, because, you know, this is on all of our resumes. This is a part of our life,” the organizer said. “We spent, in my case, four lovely years in Cornell, and to see it as an institution cave in such a way … it's very upsetting.”
Benjamin Leynse is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board and can be reached at bleynse@cornellsun.com.
