While those funds aren’t intended to "replace" federal funding — "and could not fully do so" — the initiative represents MSU’s "deep commitment" to its research mission, Guskiewicz said. 

The announcement comes as the Trump administration — as part of its efforts to cut waste in the federal budget and eradicate "woke" ideology in higher education — moves aggressively to cut funding to universities across the country. 

MSU has been impacted by the cuts, though not as profoundly as other universities. University researchers told The State News in March of feeling blindsided after their research activities in the course of a partnership with USAID were abruptly cancelled after that agency was frozen for 90 days. That research was aimed at improving food security policy in Myanmar.

The shifting of university funds represents an adjustment by MSU as uncertainty looms around the lengths to which the Trump administration will go in leveraging the disbursement of federal funding to reshape higher education in its image. 

The Trump administration this week froze $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell and $790 million for Northwestern. Those cuts were a consequence for what the Trump administration characterizes as an unwillingness by the institutions to root out antisemitism on campus, and an unjust commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion programs. 

The profile of Cornell and Northwestern in comparison to MSU are of note: both are among the country's most elite, and both have endowments that dwarf MSU's. For the moment, the Trump administration’s most aggressive crackdowns on universities have been confined to institutions of similar statures, though it remains to be seen if its scope will be broadened. 

The Trump administration has previously prodded MSU — asking the university to review its programs to ensure they comply with the federal governments anti-DEI interpretation of civil rights law — but it has mostly remained above the fray. 

In fact, MSU was spared from a U.S. Department of Education investigation launched last month into DEI programs at 51 universities. Those universities included several Big Ten schools, and MSU’s Michigan peers like Grand Valley State University and the University of Michigan. 

The announcement coincides with a broader push by MSU to bring in new revenue. The university launched last month a capital campaign with the goal of raising $4 billion, the largest fundraising push in the institution’s history.