Seven months after the Trump administration froze at least $790 million in federal funding for Northwestern, the two parties have reached an agreement, announced Friday.
The three-year deal was signed by interim University President Henry Bienen, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights Director Paula Stannard.
In April, officials attributed the funding freeze to federal investigations related to antisemitism. As part of the agreement, the federal government agreed to restore the frozen federal funding and resolve investigations into NU by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services.
“This Agreement is not an admission in whole or in part by either Party, and Northwestern expressly denies liability regarding the allegations,” the deal reads.
NU agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. Treasury with the first payment set to be made within 30 days after the deal was announced and subsequent annual installments made over the next three years. The payment will not come from donor funds.
Federal funding for the University is expected to be fully restored within 30 days. Some terminated federal grants will not be reinstated, as those “were not specific to Northwestern,” according to the University.
“With this agreement, I truly think we are well positioned in 2026 to do the things we do best: train the next generation of leaders and push the boundaries of discovery leading to life saving breakthroughs and new ideas that benefit the world,” Bienen said in a video released on the Office of the President website.
Defending the decision to pay the $75 million, Bienen said in the video that paying $40 million a month to continue research was not sustainable. Bienen also argued that suing the federal government would cost too much money and would have taken years, which would have “gutted” NU’s labs, driven away faculty and “set back entire fields of discovery.”
In the video, Bienen claimed that the deal would not compromise University control over admissions, hiring and course content, saying “Northwestern runs Northwestern.”
“No provision of this Agreement, individually or taken together, shall be construed as giving the United States authority to dictate faculty hiring, University hiring, admission decisions, Northwestern’s curriculum, or the content of academic speech and research,” the deal reads.
Still, as part of the agreement, NU made several concessions to the federal government. The University also promised to establish procedures for members of the community to report allegations of noncompliance with the agreement within 30 days of the announcement.
End of the Deering Meadow Agreement
In the resolution, NU agreed to reverse all the policies implemented in the Deering Meadow Agreement.
On April 29, 2024, University administrators and student activists negotiated the end of the five-day encampment with the Deering Meadow Agreement, which reestablished the Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility; committed the University to answering questions about endowment investments; established a temporary space for Middle Eastern and North African and Muslim students with promises of a future permanent house; promised to support visiting Palestinian students and faculty; and agreed to include students in a process that provides broad input on University dining services.
In the year following the agreement, the University had upheld some parts of the Deering Meadow Agreement, including reestablishment of the ACIR, supporting at least one Palestinian visiting faculty member and providing a temporary space for MENA and Muslim students with future plans to renovate a house as a more permanent space.
Parts of the Deering Meadow Agreement that existed prior to the 2024 resolution will continue to exist, including the ACIR, Scholars at Risk program and Dining Advisory Board.
However, the temporary space for the MENA Student Association and the Muslim Cultural Student Association is no longer available. NU does not explicitly address the house but writes that the University will continue to partner with alumni to “explore off-campus, privately owned locations” that support “community connection,” according to the Office of the President website.
Combatting alleged antisemitism on campus
Within the next six months, the University will conduct a survey using an external party to evaluate the campus climate for NU students, including Jewish students. NU will be required to provide the federal government with the results of the survey 45 days after its conclusion.
The survey will, among other things, ask students “whether they feel safe reporting antisemitism at Northwestern; whether they believe Northwestern has responded appropriately to any reports of alleged antisemitic conduct; whether they believe the changes Northwestern has made since October 2023 have benefitted the Northwestern community.”
The University will also continue to provide mandatory antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff. Since its launch in February, NU’s controversial bias training has been met with backlash and approval from the University community. NU currently faces a lawsuit, filed by two graduate students and NU Graduate Workers for Palestine, that claims the bias training discriminates against “Palestinian students, supporters and associates.”
Additionally, NU will be required to maintain the Advisory Council to the President on Jewish Life to give input “on the quality of Jewish life on campus and the University’s policies, procedures, training, and programming.”
Transgender students and health care
The University claimed that the deal places no restrictions on the transgender community at NU while also ensuring NU adheres to federal policies. However, the agreement uses the definitions of sex and female defined by a January executive order, which defined sex as “immutable biological classification as either male or female,” not including the concept of “gender identity.”
The University agreed to continue to provide what the federal government calls “safe and fair opportunities for women,” including single-sex housing for women by request and all-female sports, locker rooms and showering facilities, upholding its commitment to Title IX.
Additionally, NU and the Feinberg School of Medicine promised to not perform hormonal intervention and transgender surgeries on any individual under the age of 18. The University has never performed gender-affirming surgeries for minors, according to the Office of the President website.
Admissions, international students and hiring
As part of the agreement, NU agreed to maintain “merit-based admissions policies” by giving no preference to applicants “based on race, color, or national origin.” The deal also states that NU has discontinued any “race- or ethnicity-based scholarships.”
The University also promised to provide the federal government with historical admission data, “broken down by race, ethnicity, grade point average, and performance on standardized tests.” According to the Office of the President website, the government already has authority to request this data.
NU agreed to do a “comprehensive review” of its admission policies for international students, including asking international students questions “designed to elicit their reasons for wishing to study at Northwestern and in the United States.”
“Northwestern will also develop training materials to socialize international students to the norms of a campus dedicated to free inquiry and open debate,” the document reads.
Additionally, the University agreed to scrutinize its business model to determine whether it is necessary to decrease “financial reliance on foreign student admissions or partnerships with foreign entities.”
NU also committed to send the federal government any disciplinary actions involving student visa holders that result in expulsion, suspension or arrests upon request.
For hiring, tenure and other employment practices, NU agreed to use solely academic and professional merit, removing any direct or indirect forms of race-conscious practices. Additionally, the University removed its requirement for “diversity statements” from faculty in the hiring and promotion process.
Student Code of Conduct, University policies
The University agreed to maintain its harassment, discrimination, demonstration, protest and display policies as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct and Student Handbook. The demonstration policy was modified, and the display and solicitation policy was added in September 2024.
NU promised that it would not revise or modify its harassment, discrimination, demonstration, protest and display policies without the consent of the assistant attorney general.
The University also committed to ensure that the process for investigating complaints of harassment and discrimination is documented and stored in such a way that it can later be retrieved.
NU agreed to send the assistant attorney general a spreadsheet with all information about complaints alleging discrimination or harassment against students or faculty due to “their shared Jewish ancestry” received by NU’s Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance since Oct. 7, 2023.
Email: [email protected]
X: @ninethkk
Related Stories:
— Northwestern strikes deal with Trump administration to restore federal funding
— White House confirms ongoing deal negotiations with Northwestern to restore federal funding
— Federal government freezes $790 million in funding for Northwestern
