According to a New York Times report, top universities under President Trump‘s scrutiny have significantly upped their lobbying expenditures.
The investigation found that in the first three months of 2025, ten colleges that the administration has singled out for inspection spent a total of $2.8 million lobbying the federal government, more than those institutions had spent in any quarter at least since 2008. In February, eight institutions were singled out for inquiry by a government task group that claims to be committed to eliminating antisemitism on campuses.
According to the data, Columbia University, one of the ten, more than quadrupled its lobbying expenditures in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period the previous year. Harvard University likewise significantly raised its lobbying expenditures, spending $230,000 as opposed to $130,000 during the same time the previous year.
Typically, lobbyists want to meet with congressional and White House personnel to address issues that impact the organizations they represent. According to public records, those issues for the targeted institutions in the first several months of 2025 included, among other things, showcasing university research, advocating financial aid for students, and outlining antisemitic initiatives.
Businesses that are sensitive to conservative sentiments are being sought by colleges that the Trump administration has accused of being leftist strongholds. Businesses with Republican affiliations are receiving a large portion of the increased lobbying expenditures. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the amount that the schools spent on hired lobbying companies rose by over 150 per cent this year. According to the research, these colleges relied on Republican-affiliated lobbyists much more than they had the previous year.
Columbia University, George Washington University, New York University, Northwestern University, Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Southern California, and two campuses within the University of California system are among the ten universities listed by the antisemitism task force.
Compared to the same period last year, nine out of ten colleges increased their lobbying expenditures in the first three months of 2025. In addition to reporting the same amount, the 10th U.S.C. introduced a new topic that was absent the previous year: “Issues related to Antisemitism.” The largest amount in the analysis, $930,000, was spent in the first quarter of 2025 by the University of California system, which advocates on behalf of its ten institutions.
Northwestern University saw the largest annual increase, spending $607,000, more than five times the amount for the first quarter of 2024. Yet this month, $790 million in funding for Northwestern was frozen by the Trump administration. Universities have prepared for attacks by the federal government, which has suggested reducing billions of dollars in research grants and contracts to colleges and universities in a number of ways, including through lobbying activities. In addition, the administration has threatened to change the accreditation procedure, raise taxes on university endowments, and, in some situations, remove tax exemptions.
