Northwestern President Michael Schill’s Thursday resignation came as a surprise to much of the NU community. In the wake of the announcement, University administrators, campus organizations, alumni, students and faculty expressed emotions ranging from shock and sadness to satisfaction and triumph.
“Having worked very closely with President Schill over the past three years, I have seen firsthand his leadership and dedication to Northwestern,” Provost Kathleen Hagerty wrote in a statement to The Daily. “The University’s leadership team is grateful to President Schill for his tireless advocacy on behalf of Northwestern’s faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends.”
She added that the University is looking forward to working with the interim president to continue NU’s missions.
Interim Dean of the Pritzker School of Law Zachary Clopton expressed appreciation for Schill’s leadership.
“I also want to thank President Schill for being a great friend to Northwestern Pritzker Law,” Clopton wrote in an email to the law school community on Thursday. “Since his tenure began, he has worked to help the Law School pursue its mission. I have benefited greatly from his guidance and wisdom, and I will continue to rely on his counsel.”
After a sabbatical, Schill will remain at NU as a professor at Pritzker.
As for who will fill his role, the Board of Trustees will soon pick someone to serve in the interim, according to a statement from the Board to The Daily.
“The Board of Trustees is working expeditiously to finalize and announce an interim president to follow President Schill’s tenure,” the statement read.
For much of the University community, the resignation came unexpectedly.
Associated Student Government Co-President Jamal Omoniyi wrote in a statement to The Daily that the organization was “caught off guard” and is waiting for information so it can “move forward effectively.”
“I am saddened to hear the news,” Carol Willis, president of the Alumnae of NU, wrote in a statement to The Daily. “I know he walked into a firestorm of events during his tenure, but I believe he worked through them with great thought and deliberation.”
Willis noted that Schill’s resignation adds to the number of university presidents who have stepped down in recent months. His replacement, she said, will need the right skill set “to be able to navigate through the chaos as a university leader.”
But while some on campus are still processing the news, many are already planning for Schill’s successor.
In a statement issued to The Daily on Friday, NU’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace urged NU’s next president to protect free speech, protest rights and student safety, and reiterated its continued “commitment to Palestinian liberation.”
“We, along with other students of conscience, look forward to making Northwestern a leader in standing up to the Trump regime’s assault on universities,” a spokesperson for the organization wrote.
The Coalition Against Antisemitism at NU had less-than-kind words for the departing president.
In a statement on behalf of the advocacy group, National Chair Lisa Fields Lewis described Schill’s resignation as a symptom of a “leadership crisis” at NU that “underscores years of failure to protect Jewish students.”
“The Board now has an opportunity — and obligation — to partner with federal authorities to restore integrity, enforce civil rights, and make the University safe for all,” Lewis wrote.
NU Hillel issued a statement to its community thanking Schill for his service to NU and noting that the organization looks forward to working with the not-yet-appointed interim president and pledging to be an “indispensable partner of the University.”
Rebecca Zorach, president-elect of the Faculty Senate, had a distinctly positive view of Schill’s presidency.
“Compared to other university presidents I’ve experienced, he was one of the better ones,” Zorach said. “I worry about what it means that he resigned.”
She expressed concern about whether the Board of Trustees had pressured Schill to resign and how the resignation fits into the Board’s agenda. As the Board begins the search for a new president, she hopes that faculty will be consulted more than they have in the past.
Zorach also considered it “deeply, deeply ironic” that Washington Republicans have celebrated Schill’s resignation.
“Far-right-wing, non-Jews are celebrating the resignation of a Jewish president as a triumph over antisemitism,” she said. “They have, over and over again, misrepresented what Northwestern is like as a university and a community.”
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