A faculty coalition known as the “Northwestern Concerned Faculty Group” has issued a public appeal urging administration officials—including Northwestern’s board and President Michael Schill—to refuse a deal with President Trump’s administration to restore $790 million in frozen federal funding.
The funds were withheld in April amid civil rights investigations by the U.S. Department of Education and Justice into alleged antisemitism on campus. Some universities—Columbia and Brown—have already acquiesced by entering into conditional settlements.
The faculty group condemns such deals as undermining academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Their letter warns that agreeing to the administration’s demands would render Northwestern “complicit in an assault on higher education, which is an essential bulwark of civil society” and would violate the university’s fiduciary responsibility.
Faculty members—including law, history, sociology, and medical school professors—argue that conceding to pressured agreements sets a dangerous precedent. They state that it may embolden further federal interference under the guise of similar investigations.
Northwestern has already begun implementing financial austerity measures. Announced steps include a hiring freeze, budget cuts, and the elimination of approximately 425 positions—nearly half of which were vacant—reflecting the university’s serious shortfall in response to the funding freeze.
