Education
Northwestern Faculty, Students Divided Over $75M Settlement With Trump Administration
Northwestern University has agreed to pay $75 million to the federal government in a settlement. The deal with the Trump administration would restore $790 million in federal research grants that were frozen earlier this year, and end investigations on discrimination.
But students and faculty are divided on the deal — with opponents blasting it as government overreach while supporters say it was a result of the university’s failure to protect Jewish students.
Northwestern leadership, meanwhile, insists the university will keep its autonomy.
“It was the best and most certain method to restore our federal funding, both now and in the future,” Northwestern interim President Henry Bienen said in a video statement. “Suing would have cost time and money that we believe the university could not risk.”
Northwestern follows several other universities that have struck a deal with the Trump administration, such as Cornell University and the University of Virginia. The $75 million payout is the second highest from a university involved in one of these cases, after Columbia University’s $200 million settlement reached in July.
Some advocates are lauding the settlement as a step in the right direction in addressing antisemitism.
Lisa Fields Lewis, national chair of the Coalition Against Anti-Semitism at Northwestern, said she heard from many Jewish students who didn’t feel safe on campus, or felt targeted during the pro-Palestine student protests last year.
“The government was right in fining Northwestern,” Fields Lewis said. “There were significant gaps in protection of students and failure to follow the law.”
Jonah Rubin, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, worries that the Trump administration could be using antisemitism concerns as a ruse to extend its reach on education.
“I question whether this was really about antisemitism,” Rubin said. “They’re using Jews in order to do a project that they have always wanted to do. That has nothing to do with keeping Jews safe and everything to do with advancing a far-right antidemocratic project.”
The wide-ranging deal calls for Northwestern to continue compliance with anti-discrimination laws and efforts to address antisemitism on campus. The university would have to disclose more information to the federal government on its hiring, admissions and academic practices. Northwestern would also have to uphold a commitment to Title IX, providing safe spaces and opportunities for women, “defined on the basis of sex.”
The settlement also revokes the so-called “Deering Meadow Agreement” between Northwestern’s administration and pro-Palestine student activists, which was signed in exchange for having protesters take down their tent encampment on campus.
Laura Beth Nielsen, a law and sociology professor at Northwestern, said the concessions cause concerns for academic freedom.
“You can’t say, ‘Hey, we’ll give you a benefit if you just give up your constitutional rights,” Nielsen said. “The framework in which this is happening is an illegal use of the withdrawal of government money conditioned on us giving up our own rights and our students’ rights.”
