From Evanston’s City Council to Capitol Hill, Northwestern’s Friday agreement with the federal government has sparked partisan backlash, with Republicans lauding it as much-needed accountability while Democrats condemn the school for “capitulating” to the Trump administration.
NU will pay a $75 million penalty to the U.S. Treasury, along with pledging to adhere to federal anti-discrimination policies, bar gender-affirming care for minors at Feinberg School of Medicine, retract its commitment to the Deering Meadow Agreement and continue to comply with requests for immigration information related to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, among other terms.
The deal ends a months-long freeze of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding, but criticism about what the University sacrificed to secure it has begun to flow.
Federal politicians divided across the aisle
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) wrote in a statement to The Daily that while she understood the “extraordinary strain” the funding freeze placed on the University, she was “deeply disappointed” by the agreement.
She pointed to the irony of NU — “home to one of the world’s leading journalism schools” — compromising on free speech and academic freedom that students study daily.
“It is my hope that Northwestern, and every university, remembers and protects these values and principles going forward,” Schakowsky wrote in the statement.
Less than a month before former University President Michael Schill’s resignation, the Committee on Education and Workforce conducted a transcribed interview with him to discuss alleged antisemitism at NU. Schill previously testified before the committee in May 2024.
Committee chairman U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) praised the agreement as a necessary correction to higher education’s trajectory in a statement to The Daily.
“The Trump administration’s deal with Northwestern is an important first step toward getting our colleges back on track and restoring our higher education system so it can better serve American students,” Walberg wrote.
In his statement, Walberg said schools like NU have “flagrantly failed” to address campus antisemitism concerns, isolating and alienating Jewish students and faculty.
Walberg argued that Americans are disillusioned with a system that seems to have forgotten its educational mission, instead doing more “to indoctrinate students, crack down on freedom of thought, perpetuate racial discrimination and undermine the opportunities and safety of women.”
Similarly, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the deal was “a huge win” in a Friday news release, a sentiment she reiterated on X later that evening.
However, others have voiced concerns about how the agreement may threaten institutional independence. On Monday, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) described the situation as “shameful” in an X post.
“We must keep calling out those that cave to the Trump Admin, and the latest is Northwestern,” Van Hollen wrote.
State officials decry ‘extortion’
The criticism has only intensified at the state level, where Democratic officials have minced no words in their responses.
At a Tuesday news conference for a vaccine bill event, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (Pritzker ’93) said he does not think any university should be “capitulating to the extortion” of the federal administration.
“These are research institutions that all of us rely upon, by the way, for their medical research and their other work that often leads to ground-breaking, life-saving solutions to problems in the world,” he said.
Pritzker said as each university battles with questions about federal funding, both schools and the wider public face existential challenges.
In particular, he warned of broader implications beyond campuses.
“I am of the belief that every time a university signs an agreement based upon this extortion, they’re whittling away, just a little bit, at the democracy we’ve all relied upon,” Pritzker said.
Democratic candidates in the crowded lineup for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District also spoke out against the deal.
Illinois State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago), one of the race’s 17 Democrats, denounced the deal in a Saturday news release, dubbing the federal government’s agreement with NU and other schools as “mob-like extortion.”
“These agencies have shown time and again they cannot be trusted to protect our rights, our students or our health, and they should not be treated like responsible negotiating parties,” Simmons said.
He was especially critical of provisions requiring NU to comply with the federal government’s stances on gender, labeling it as “throwing trans youth and academic freedom back under the bus.”
On Monday, Democratic candidate and Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala (Kellogg ’25) quote posted Van Hollen’s statement.
“It is infuriating to see my own alma mater choose the wrong side of history,” Amiwala wrote in her X post. “It does not take a Ph.D. to know that silencing students and suppressing inquiry is how institutions lose their soul.”
Amiwala said she took part in NU’s pro-Palestinian encampment as a student in the spring of 2024 to protest what she said were “human rights violations in Palestine.” The encampment culminated in the negotiation of the Deering Meadow Agreement, which promised greater investment transparency and increased support for Middle Eastern, North African and Muslim students, among other terms.
NU’s deal explicitly decommits the school from the Deering Meadow Agreement.
In a Tuesday Instagram post, Democratic candidate Bruce Leon said that he was on NU’s campus during the encampment and saw “the fear and hostility” Jewish students faced.
Leon applauded NU’s agreement to “strengthen its protections for Jewish students,” criticizing his congressional opponents Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and Illinois State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Evanston) for condemning the deal.
Meanwhile, Fine said, as a Jewish legislator, she supports strong measures against antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination. However, she said universities should be free to set campus policies and negotiate agreements with their students without federal dollars being used as a political tool.
Fine told The Daily that she was especially concerned about the “ripple effect” of this deal — not just on funding, admissions and hiring — but also on free speech. True safety for students comes from community trust and honest conversation, she added.
“This agreement, by freezing protest rights, risks creating an environment where many students, Jewish or not, feel like they can’t voice their concerns,” Fine said. “And a university is a learning place where people need to have these honest conversations.”
Evanston’s representatives respond
By threatening critical funding, the Trump administration has “essentially blackmailed” NU and other major higher education institutions, Biss wrote in a statement to The Daily, which he later posted online.
“As a Jewish person, I am disturbed by the Trump administration’s disingenuous use of the very serious crisis of antisemitism to justify its actions,” Biss said.
As the father of trans children, Biss added he was “disgusted” by NU’s compliance, pointing to an agreement term that bars gender-affirming surgeries for minors at Feinberg. According to the Office of the President website, Feinberg has never provided this care.
Biss also criticized the agreement with regard to “the potential for increased immigration information sharing,” especially given recent federal immigration enforcement activity in Evanston.
Regarding this provision, a statement from Interim University President Henry Bienen to the NU community specified that the University “will continue to comply with all legal requirements” related to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which maintains information about international students.
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) said, although he was glad “the spigot has been turned back on” in terms of research funding, he, too, was disturbed by the settlement.
“It’s important for Evanston residents — including anybody affiliated with Northwestern — that the city adhere to its self-imposed policies with regards to data-sharing and maintain Evanston’s position as a welcoming city and a sanctuary city,” Nieuwsma said.
Schakowsky emphasized that she and her Democratic colleagues would continue working to make sure that federal research funding would not be used as “an unconstitutional source of political pressure” in the future.
But she implied that a dangerous precedent had already been set.
“When you give a bully your lunch money, they are not going away,” Schakowsky wrote.
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