The Weekly: Federal funding, bird flu, Justin Timberlake tour

Anavi Prakash, Leah Schroeder, Lexi Newsom, and Sydney Gaw

February 24, 2025

The Daily Northwestern · The Weekly: Federal funding, bird flu, Justin Timberlake tour

How is Northwestern reacting to federal orders impacting higher education? What is bird flu? What does Justin Timberlake’s world tour mean to fans? The Daily answers these questions and recaps other top stories from the last week.

ANAVI PRAKASH: Northwestern programming is cut in compliance with federal orders.

Bird flu cases increase around the country.

Justin Timberlake’s “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour” concert excites longtime fans.

From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Anavi Prakash.

This is The Weekly, a breakdown of the top headlines from the past week.

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ANAVI PRAKASH: Today, we’re starting with Campus Editor Leah Schroeder to talk about how Northwestern programming and resources are impacted by federal funding cuts and orders.

Leah, a lot has happened in the last few weeks. Can you walk us through the orders that have impacted Northwestern most directly?

LEAH SCHROEDER: The biggest political order that’s been affecting us is Trump’s executive order called Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, which essentially disbands all DEI so I think that’s the biggest thing that’s impacting us. But then there’s also been some trickle-down effects, like the Department of Education threatened federal funding if universities didn’t comply with that within 14 days. It sent that letter out last Friday, so universities had 14 days from last Friday to get rid of race-based hiring and admission decisions, as well as any nods to race or DEI on their campuses, so it remains to be seen how exactly that will affect us, like, what types of Northwestern programs, clubs and organizations may experience cuts after that, but that’s kind of the direction that was sent out.

And then also, the NSF froze its annual grant review to comply with Trump’s orders. And the NIH issued a policy change notice, which said that the standard rate of indirect costs would be 15% for current and future grants.

So the University’s kind of responded in several ways, but it is also, it’s a little bit unclear exactly what will happen. But this week, President Schill sent out an email, announcing that NU leaders would try to work together to determine what exactly this means for us, and review different things that are going on at Northwestern, make some decisions and some changes. The email did say that any changes made would stay in line with Northwestern’s core academic values and principles, so they’re going to try to maintain Northwestern’s mission while making all the different decisions that they have to make.

The email also mentioned that the University might adopt different sorts of programs or initiatives to ensure that people can still be exposed to viewpoints that are different from themselves. So I don’t know if this necessarily will replace some of the things that might be cut, but it’s kind of like to maintain that diversity, just in a different way.

And then last week, President Schill announced a lot of different funding changes in response to concerns that research funding or federal funding might get cut, because of different executive orders. So the changes that were announced in that email were that the University budget is going to be reducing non-personnel expenses in the current fiscal year by 10%. Additionally, there’s going to be a different, central review process for all personnel decisions. So that will be hiring, raises and any other kind of related actions to that, so there’s going to be a very localized review process in a way that there wasn’t before.

And then the last thing announced in that email is that any expenditures over $25,000 will now be reviewed by the Vice President and the Chief Financial Officer. So they have to take a closer look at different funding decisions that Northwestern is making, just in response to concerns over whether or not our budget and our funding will be affected by the different executive orders.

ANAVI PRAKASH: And what about initiatives in different NU schools?

LEAH SCHROEDER: In individual schools, there’s been some responses to different DEI concerns, like, for example, Feinberg (School of Medicine) scrubbed their DEI webpage and Kellogg (School of Management) got rid of their DEI pathway, which is one of the majors that their students could choose. So, we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen based on the different orders and political happenings, but these are their responses so far, and I think the main messaging that’s been kind of reiterated is that they’re gonna try to stay in line with Northwestern’s values and missions and at the same time comply with the new federal and executive orders.

ANAVI PRAKASH: What is the general reaction on campus — from faculty to students — about these orders and decisions?

LEAH SCHROEDER: Honestly, the biggest reaction is just a lot of uncertainty. People don’t really know what’s going to happen, and it kind of feels like there’s a lot of different things going on that we have to keep track of and that the University is monitoring. But also everybody else is kind of trying to pay attention and see what’s going on. The University is just sort of grappling with what all they have to change, and just how they can best comply with the federal orders, but also stay true to Northwestern’s mission. So, I think there’s just a lot of uncertainty on campus.

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ANAVI PRAKASH: Leah, thank you so much.

Next, reporter Lexi Newsom gives us a recap of everything we need to know about bird flu.

To start off, what is bird flu?

LEXI NEWSOM: Bird flu is a strand of influenza that affects mostly birds, but it also has been documented in cattle, a harbor seal and a bunch of other species.

Right now, in general, most of the impact comes from rising egg prices because it is very quickly decimating poultry farms, especially in California. Some of those sources I talked to are keeping it on their radar in case the virus mutates to be able to transmit between people — so human-to-human transmission — in which case it may be a greater problem for us as people.

ANAVI PRAKASH: How widespread is bird flu in the U.S.?

LEXI NEWSOM: There have no been no documented (human) cases in Illinois. There have been 70 cases in the U.S., and one man in Louisiana died from it. Seventy cases, but it’s not that great of a risk in general to most people. The biggest risk of contracting bird flu are those who work directly with, especially cattle, but then also at poultry farms. And even then, their rate of getting the disease is really low, too.

ANAVI PRAKASH: You mentioned that experts are keeping a potential virus mutation on their radars. What else are they looking out for?

LEXI NEWSOM: One of the Illinois Department of Health departments is keeping a close eye on cases of influenza recorded in the state. So if there are symptoms that don’t match up with the diagnosis of influenza that is commonly found in humans, we can start documenting that earlier. And then the concern would be, one of them said, the main concern of an outbreak would be if a bunch of people get influenza and we can’t trace it back to an animal, like an infected animal source. Then you know that very early on that it might have gained the ability to transmit from person to person, but that hasn’t happened yet.

ANAVI PRAKASH: On campus, what should people look out for to avoid bird flu?

LEXI NEWSOM: Waterfowl in the area have been recorded to have bird flu, especially along Lake Michigan. So, one of the sources I talked to really emphasized, this seems very self-explanatory, but don’t pick up a dead bird with your bare hands, and if it might have gotten bird flu or you suspect that it has symptoms of bird flu, don’t touch it, because then you could potentially risk getting the virus yourself. A lot of the listed symptoms are like abrasions or one of them is literally sudden death. With a lot of cases, it’s taken testing to confirm whether or not an animal has bird flu.

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ANAVI PRAKASH: Lexi, thank you.

Assistant Video Editor and co-Diversity and Inclusion Chair Sydney Gaw covered Justin Timberlake’s Chicago show of his first tour in five years, “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.” The concert was held on Valentine’s Day.

To start off, what did the concert mean to Timberlake’s fans, and how did Valentine’s Day play into the show?

SYDNEY GAW: So his sixth studio album was “Everything I Thought It Was,” and so a lot of the set list included songs from that album. Then there were also a lot of songs that I think were either hits or other popular songs from throughout his career. And I think the concert really was just a celebration of some of the themes in that album, but also just the larger impact of his career. And I know a lot of that had to do with kind of this idea that maybe he was losing relevance in popular media and so this tour was proof otherwise: that he still is a very big figure in the music industry, and that a lot of people were still coming out to see him perform. And so I think that was really cool to see, especially reflected in people’s reactions. And of course, everyone was cheering for him as well.

And then in terms of it being on Valentine’s Day, I think it was really special, just because there were so many people who were dressed up in kind of pink and red and it was kind of a cute group celebration of the holiday as well. In particular, I remember there was this one couple who had been married for two months and that day was actually their two-month anniversary. And so they had a sign that said something like, “Hey, Justin, we’ve been married for two months and we used one of your songs as our first dance,” so they were kind of spotlighted during that moment. And it was really cool to see kind of the crowd reaction to that.

ANAVI PRAKASH: You touched on this a little already, but what was the audience like, especially given that this was Timberlake’s first tour in half a decade?

SYDNEY GAW: I mean, first off, the crowd energy was really, really something special. And I think that when I was entering the stadium, I saw all these signs that kind of said the show was sold out. And I know a lot of artists will kind of put that out, and you don’t really know exactly how full it’s going to be, but it was definitely a packed show.

And I think the energy from the crowd was really, you know, reflecting, his stage personality and the impact of his career as well. There were so many people there who I think were long-time fans. I think the demographic was definitely a little bit older than, say, your average college student. But I think that spoke more generally to his original fan base.

And what was special about this kind of being his first major list of live performances in the last five years was that, again, he was trying to show that he was still relevant, that there are still people who listen to his music and who wanted to celebrate him and his work. And so I think there was generally a large focus on just this being a milestone because it was not necessarily a comeback, but kind of a proof that there was still an existing fan base, that people were still excited to come out and to show out for his concert.

ANAVI PRAKASH: And, what was your favorite part of the concert?

SYDNEY GAW: I think one of my favorite performances was actually the very last one. He performed his song “Mirrors” and that was kind of like the encore. Because of previous shows, people knew that he still had one song left, so we were kind of just waiting, and then lights come back on, and he emerges on the secondary stage that he had been using throughout the show. And it was kind of deeper in the crowd, it was closer to the back of the arena, and so it was kind of a more intimate setting there.

And although I was kind of closer to the main stage, it was cool to see, just like all the audience members whipped in the other direction, and we see him run on, on the secondary stage, and he goes into that performance of “Mirrors” and it was really cool to experience that because I love that song. It was one of the few songs that I think I was really familiar with before going to the concert. And I think at that point, you know, people were cheering. Everyone was kind of just celebrating the fact that the concert had gone really well and that this was kind of wrapping up the night, and I thought it was really special.

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ANAVI PRAKASH: Sydney, thank you so much.

Here are the other top headlines from the week:

Evanston business owners see city leaders’ responsiveness as paramount in the election.

Residents debate Envision Evanston and historic preservation at a joint ward meeting.

Come one, come all: Carnival Dillo is announced as the theme of the 53rd Dillo Day.

No. 3 Northwestern lacrosse smashes Niagara 22-5.

And, from our Best of Evanston issue coming out this week, the Moran Center for Youth Advocacy provides legal and social services, and faces increased demand for immigration resources.

From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Anavi Prakash.

Thank you for listening to another episode of The Weekly. This episode was reported by Anavi Prakash, Leah Schroeder, Lexi Newsom and Sydney Gaw and produced by Anavi Prakash.

The Audio Editor is Anavi Prakash. The Multimedia Managing Editors are Kelley Lu and Jillian Moore. The Editor in Chief is Lily Ogburn.

Our theme music is “Night Owl” by Broke for Free, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License and provided by the Free Music Archive.

Email: anaviprakash2027@u.northwestern.edu
X: @anavi_52

Email: leahschroeder2026@u.northwestern.edu
Twitter: @lmschroeder_

Email: lexinewsom2028@u.northwestern.edu

Email: sydneygaw2027@u.northwestern.edu