Northwestern University agreed to pay $75 million and accept policy changes to regain roughly $790 million in suspended federal research funding after the Trump administration alleged civil‑rights shortcomings. The settlement includes mandatory antisemitism training, data reporting to federal authorities and revocation of a prior agreement with protesters, according to university and government statements. The Northwestern deal is part of a broader pattern tracked by higher‑education observers: multiple institutions have negotiated settlements with the administration to restore frozen research grants. The administration has used funding leverage to press changes in admissions, hiring and campus speech policies. Some universities—Harvard among them—pursued litigation instead of deals; others accepted terms to restore funding quickly. Why it matters: these negotiated settlements tie federal research dollars to operational and policy concessions, raising questions about institutional autonomy, faculty governance and precedent-setting for future federal enforcement actions. Campus leaders and legal counsel are reassessing risk management, compliance workflows and the tradeoffs between prolonged litigation and rapid restoration of grant funding.