Faculty and students held a Day of Action for Higher Education across campus Thursday, calling on Northwestern to resist federal pressure amid the Trump administration’s funding freeze, revocations of international student visas and ongoing antisemitism investigations.
The event was part of a nationwide movement spanning over 150 campuses. Faculty at universities nationwide held similar panels and rallies, said Spanish and Portuguese Prof. Jorge Coronado, a member of NU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which helped organize NU’s movement.
NU’s Day of Action featured several events, including “anti-fascism office hours” and panels over the course of the day, capped by an evening rally.
AAUP hosted a panel on the Board of Trustees
The packed panel discussion, “NU’s Board of Trustees: Who They Are & What They Do,” in Harris Hall featured political science Prof. Jacqueline Stevens and McCormick Prof. Luís Amaral.
Amaral compared the Board to similar entities at peer institutions like Columbia University, pointing out the high volume of connections between trustees and companies the University invests in.
He condemned the Board’s handling of graduate student organizing, accusing it of creating an “us against you” environment.
“They don’t want you to stand up, they want you on your knees,” Amaral said. “They like people to feel anxious because if you are afraid, alone and anxious, you do not fight what they are doing.”
Stevens spoke primarily about the history of the Board of Trustees. She also said that NU-AAUP’s ten resolutions are set to be considered at the Faculty Assembly meeting on Monday. The tenth resolution calls for the addition of eight non-voting “faculty visitors” to the Board to provide oversight and accountability.
English Prof. Daisy Hernández attended the panel and helped organize the day’s events.
“The fact that this event was standing room only today really speaks volumes to how much support there is on campus for higher education for the university in light of these attacks,” she said.
NUGW, SOLR and others held a press conference
Leaders of NU Graduate Workers, Students Organizing for Labor Rights and several other groups spoke at a 2 p.m. press conference on the steps of Deering Library, calling on the university to protect the community and uphold its commitments to free speech on campus.
The press conference began only minutes after the University administration announced in an email it would continue to fund research impacted by the stop-work orders issued last week.
“This is a clear step in the right direction,” said Peter Cummings, a fourth-year clinical psychology Ph.D. candidate and chief steward of NUGW. “And yet, it is not far enough.”
He criticized the measure’s restrictions, which exclude projects previously terminated by the federal government, and said the union called on the University to form a mutual defense compact with other universities under similar pressure from the federal government.
Several international students expressed fears amid recent deportations of international students, and some acknowledged that even speaking at the event could make them a target.
Suzi Elnaggar, a founding member of the Arab Graduate Student Association, described her community’s fears about losing academic opportunities.
“It is dehumanizing. It attempts to rob us of dignity,” Elnaggar said.
“It’s about defending civil society”
Hundreds of students and faculty members gathered at the Rebecca Crown Center steps for the “Take Steps! A Faculty Action” event and hundreds attended the “Name Your Fears, Voice Your Dreams, Take Steps” rally afterward at Norris University Center in the McCormick Auditorium.
Several attendees wore purple shirts that said, “Don’t give in, it won’t stop here.”
During the Crown Center event, art history Prof. Rebecca Zorach read a letter sent to University President Michael Schill, Provost Kathleen Hagerty and Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris. According to Zorach, the letter was signed by about 450 faculty members and urged the administration not to comply with the “unprecedented demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance.”
Zorach said this letter put the onus on the University administration to make sure that it will “fight back,” like Harvard University, which did not comply with the Trump administration’s demands.
“This is really about more than just the University’s funding,” Zorach said after the event. “It’s about defending civil society and having institutions that can be independent and speak freely. … And that means that a lot of institutions have to come together and fight back.”
The Crown Center event was followed by a rally featuring several student and faculty speakers.
Originally planned for Deering Meadow, the rally was moved to the McCormick Auditorium in Norris due to inclement weather.
“Last week, the president of our Board of Trustees, Mr. Peter Barris, said protests were harmful to efforts to protect the university,” history Prof. Leslie Harris said at the rally. “Well, Mr. Barris, let me say that appeasement of immoral governments is a threat to the University.”
Maanasa Narayanamoorthy, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in chemistry and a divisional chief steward for NUGW, said her department has been “wracked with uncertainty” due to the latest federal funding freeze and threats to National Institutes of Health funding.
“I work daily alongside non-citizen workers who should not have to think about whether they are safe at work while they are conducting biomedical research that could save lives,” Narayanamoorthy said. “It is especially important that we as a university stand together in defense of all our workers — and in defense of our very existence.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the professor handing the faculty-signed letter to University administration. A previous version of this article also misstated that Suzi Elnaggar is an international student. She is Egyptian American. The Daily regrets these errors.
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