Northwestern President Michael Schill shared updates on the state of the University with the community amid threats to federal funding at his annual fireside chat on Tuesday.
The fireside chat, hosted by the NU Staff Advisory Council, took place in Norris University Center’s McCormick Auditorium and included both a speech from President Schill and a Q&A session with him and Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer Lorraine Goffe.
Schill’s nearly 40 minute speech addressed the implications of the new presidential administration on NU students and higher education at large, citing Monday night’s memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget announcing a pause in federal funding.
The memo requires federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance” while the OMB evaluates the agencies’ adherence to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders. However, a federal judge has ordered a temporary freeze on the ban since Schill spoke.
Schill said he wants to avoid the OMB singling out NU for Title VI violations and DEI practices that interfere with Trump’s new regulations.
“We are the targets of a lot of people in Washington,” Schill said. “What we need to do here is be watchful. We need to not give people the ammunition to pick us off individually.”
Schill said he expects challenges to the budget will particularly impact NU’s scientific research, which is primarily funded by the federal government. The National Science Foundation received an 8% budget cut last year, and Congress essentially flatlined funding for the National Institutes of Health.
Another cause for budget concerns, Schill said, is a potential increase in the University’s endowment tax, since endowments make up a significant portion of the operating budget. NU paid nearly $8 million in taxes last year to the federal government under the current 1.4% endowment tax.
Schill said a growing list of proposals by Republicans suggest a large impending increase in the tax, including a proposal by Vice President JD Vance to increase the tax to 35%.
Schill also addressed concerns about immigration and student visas in the wake of Trump’s mass deportation campaign. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been targeting Chicago’s immigrant communities in recent days, which Schill says has left students with a sense of uncertainty.
“We know that in the past couple days, there have been some enforcement actions in our city,” Schill said. “This could negatively affect our graduate programs as well as our research, and it may have a direct impact on some of our staff and our faculty.”
To address the issues facing higher education, Schill said the administration is working to emphasize the positive influences NU has and can have on the nation. Visits to Capitol Hill and lobbying efforts through organizations like the Association of American Universities are some of the ways NU is hoping to ease scrutiny of colleges and universities.
Schill also had positive news to report.
“While we have financial challenges, our finances are solid, unlike some of our peer schools,” he said, though he stressed the importance of keeping finances under control to stay out of a deficit.
He spoke highly of this year’s admissions effort, saying he worried about the admissions cycle following the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action. Schill said despite this challenge, diversity remained a top priority when selecting the newest Wildcats.
“We ended up with our most diverse class ever among undergraduates, and we followed the law,” Schill said. “I’m very pleased with the record number of Pell-eligible and first generation students.”
Schill also referenced advancements in sustainability efforts, with a focus on decarbonization and renewable energy.
The University has also made significant investments in artificial intelligence and data science computing. Schill said the administration is working on creating a University-wide AI institute for students from every school to take part in.
Natalie Arsenault, the associate director of the Dispute Resolution Research Center at Kellogg School of Management, is new to NU and said this was her first opportunity to hear the president speak.
“I thought I’d come to hear what he had to say,” Arsenault said. “I think it’s a great thing — to be able to sit in the same room with the president was really nice.”
Andy Jelagin, the IT director for the School of Communication, attended the chat for an update on finances and various University projects.
“I’m just always interested to hear what the plans are and what the vision is for NU going forward,” he said.
Schill expressed his appreciation for the University’s staff and their support throughout his past two and a half years as president.
He encouraged attendees to remain hopeful for the future and confident in the importance of higher education, especially in the wake of unprecedented changes made by the second Trump administration.
“We are moving into uncharted territory,” Schill said. “That means we as a community need to pull together. We can’t be passive. We can’t be divided. We are all going to need to pull together to support NU and each other over the next several years, and I know we will, as we always have.”
Email: carolinekillilea2027@u.northwestern.edu
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