The Northwestern Faculty Assembly reached a quorum for the second time ever with over 600 faculty members in attendance at its Wednesday meeting, the Assembly’s largest-ever showing.
Many of the about 100 in-person faculty attendees came wearing shirts or sashes featuring statements such as “Don’t give in, we won’t stop here,” “I heart DEI” and “Stand up NU!!” Others attended virtually via Zoom.
The assembly meeting began with a welcome from Faculty Senate President Ian Hurd before interim President Henry Bienen took to the podium for his State of the University address.
As outlined in Article V of the Faculty Assembly’s bylaws, it is customary for the University president to preside over Faculty Assembly meetings, although former President Schill was not in attendance for the Assembly meeting last spring.
Bienen’s speech focused primarily on the federal funding freeze. He began by qualifying that his observations on the state of the University are limited, having only been in the interim president role for about a month.
He highlighted that the Board of Trustees voted to continue to fund research impacted by the funding freeze through December and said that it is spending $35 to $40 million a month to continue to fund research.
Then he addressed what he said everyone wanted to know: What is the University doing to get funds flowing?
“I want to do a deal with the federal government,” Bienen said. “I don’t want to get into suits with the federal government.”
Bienen said the federal government still has not given notice to the University as to why the funding freeze is happening or what it wants in return for restoring federal funding.
He also said that NU has not been formally invited to sign the compact that was offered to nine universities, though President Trump declared Sunday that the compact will be opened up to all universities.
“I can confirm that I won’t put my name to any agreement which hinders the autonomy of the University to teach what it wants, to hire who it wants, to have students that it wants,” Bienen said.
He described those stipulations as “red lines” for a University agreement with the federal government.
Introducing a proposed resolution against the federal compact, sociology Prof. Laura Beth Nielsen addressed Bienen’s stipulations.
“This administration, I fear, is not going to make a deal that doesn’t include crossing these ‘red lines,’” Nielsen said. “Beyond being plainly unlawful and unconstitutional, homophobic, transphobic, it asks us to disavow science, learning and knowledge, to accept a system for awarding research funding that side steps peer review and replaces scholarly judgment with preferred access.”
Faculty members grill Bienen
During the Q&A portion of the assembly, faculty were able to ask Bienen questions directly.
Hurd asked Bienen if the stated $7.5 million in savings by switching to United Healthcare was worth the stress it created among the faculty.
In response, Bienen said he supported the change and emphasized to faculty that he, too, was affected by the change.
“I didn’t do it. I’ll use that expression a lot going forward. But having said that, I’ve reviewed it and basically I think it’s okay,” Bienen said.
Hurd then questioned Bienen about what the University’s response might be should a faculty member be targeted for their teaching.
Bienen said that during his previous tenure as president, he protected people whose views he strongly disagreed with.
“I am as strong of a First Amendment free speech person as you can find,” Bienen said. “I will personally protect people’s right to say what they think.”
This was met with a round of applause from the faculty members.
The floor was then opened to questions from general faculty members.
History Prof. Leslie Harris spoke passionately to Bienen, arguing that Harvard’s ability to reinstate its funding through legal action seems to speak against his reluctance to sue. Harris said Bienen has a responsibility, not just to NU, but to institutions of higher education.
“There has got to be more that’s done,” Harris said. “It is not enough to say my responsibility is always to Northwestern. It is also to this nation.”
Several faculty asked why Bienen does not want to use the courts to reinstate research funding. Bienen clarified that while not his current preferred route, he does not completely rule out using legal channels in the future if necessary.
Anne Zald, who works for the University libraries, asked Bienen if there has been discussion about coordinated action between educational institutions to create a united front against federal action. Bienen responded that there is some discussion and that he hopes that the initial universities asked to sign the compact refuse.
Quorum votes on resolutions
The assembly then moved on to voting on two resolutions. According to Article V of the Faculty Assembly bylaws, a quorum — attendance by 10% of the membership — is necessary to pass resolutions.
The first resolution was to include librarian and research faculty members as members of the Faculty Assembly. The second was a resolution against capitulation to the federal government “compact,” submitted via faculty petition.
“This Faculty Assembly opposes any capitulation on the part of Northwestern University to these or similar demands that undermine constitutional rights, democratic principles, faculty governance, institutional autonomy, and academic freedom,” the proposed resolution read.
Faculty members voted via QR code and paper ballots. Results have not yet been released, but after the vote, multiple faculty members expressed strong belief that both resolutions will pass. Hurd stated that to pass, the majority was defined as 50% plus one.
Finally, members of the NU chapter of the American Association of University Professors discussed a resolution passed by the assembly at their last meeting in spring.
History Prof. Lauren Stokes, secretary of the NU AAUP chapter, spoke on behalf of the AAUP. She addressed the spring resolution that called on the University to actively defend academic freedom from unlawful federal actions and requested faculty members be added to the Board of Trustees as a form of oversight.
“Unfortunately, (with) that resolution that we passed in April, we received no acknowledgement of it,” Stokes said.
She called on several members of the AAUP to voice their concerns and grievances, including concerns about faculty insurance, the University-mandated bias training and negotiations with the federal government.
Bienen responded to questions about the bias training, completion of which is currently required by the University.
“I should say I don’t like training programs,” Bienen said. “I don’t like forcing people to sit there for training programs, irrespective of the content. I don’t think it changes people’s minds about the way they see the world.”
After more comments from AAUP members, Bienen and Hurd concluded the meeting.
McCormick Prof. and AAUP member Izzy Grosof said they were pleased with the resolutions, which they believe passed, and appreciated Bienen’s hope that no one signs the compact.
“I think he put a bit too much weight on (not) claiming responsibility by having only been here for a month,” Grosof said. “I think an important part of his duty as president is the decisions of what policies he will or will not continue that have existed previously, and by decrying responsibility just because he didn’t initiate them is missing the point.”
Art history Prof. Rebecca Zorach, Faculty Senate President-Elect, said she believed the meeting represented a powerful statement on behalf of faculty autonomy and governance, arguing that the Board of Trustees needs to listen to them more.
She said she believes the resolution rejecting the compact will be passed, and she emphasized the importance of standing with colleagues from other universities who are rejecting the compact as well. Zorach said that the times Schill did not appear at the Faculty Assembly, they noticed his absence.
“I know (Bienen) is trying to do a good job for the University, but I do feel like it’s really important for him to hear from us,” said Zorach. “It’s good that he heard from us, and hopefully he’ll come again and hear from us again.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misquoted Nielsen. The Daily regrets the error.
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