Katherine Sloman (SESP ’10) said she used to call herself a proud alum; she wore her Northwestern purple everywhere, watched all the football games and donated money every year from her salary as a therapist. 

But when she heard about the University’s Nov. 28 agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding, Sloman said she felt “ashamed” and stopped wearing her NU sweatshirt.

“My first reaction was disgust and disappointment that it feels like Northwestern is capitulating to a xenophobic, transphobic and frankly, fascist Trump administration, and that is not the school that I was so proud to attend,” Sloman said.

The University agreed to a fine of  $75 million alongside concessions surrounding antisemitism, transgender health care and international students, among others. In return, the government ended a months-long freeze on $790 million dollars in federal research funding and resolved investigations by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services. 

Unlike Sloman, The Alumnae of NU President Carol Willis (Weinberg ’68) called Bienen’s deal “brilliant.” 

“I felt that President Bienen was willing to do pretty much whatever he felt was morally correct to get that money back, because research was so extremely important and we need that money,” Willis said. “People’s lives were at stake. People’s jobs were at stake.” 

Willis said she thinks Bienen will hold firm to his commitment that “Northwestern runs Northwestern,” referencing Bienen’s statement to the NU community following the agreement. 

She said the months the University went without federal funding were a “distressing” time for the University and The Alumnae of NU. Willis oversees alumni donations in the form of fellowships, scholarships and awards to faculty and students. 

“When that federal funding was cut off, we had double the amount of applications for grants,” Willis said. “People were looking for money from wherever they could get it.” 

Willis called paying the $75 million “blackmail,” but said that Bienen did not have a choice because there was too much at stake. She said that on the other end of the scale, another The Alumnae NU board member was infuriated by the deal, and wanted the University to “send the government packing”. 

Susan Deming (Communication ’89) also wished NU instead told the Trump administration to “kick rocks” and expressed concern that the deal would limit the University’s academic freedom. 

“What are they going to do? Are they going to go ahead and research junk science from (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)?” Deming said. “Are they going to put money into a think tank to figure out how we can subvert the rule of law even further? This is blood money.”

While she was a student, Deming participated in demonstrations against the apartheid Afrikaner government in South Africa, which enforced racial segregation and discrimination against South Africa’s non-white majority for nearly 50 years. She said that at that time, students felt mostly free to express their opinions. 

One of the deal’s stipulations is that NU commits to “clear policies and procedures” regarding demonstrations, protests and other “expressive activities” as well as mandatory antisemitism training for students, faculty and staff. 

Deming said the idea that the University administration would have them go through any sort of sensitivity training for the oppressive apartheid Afrikaner government would have been “completely ludicrous.” She said she believes the culture of protest and activism on college campuses has gotten worse. 

“The same parallels being asked of students today, we’re throwing kids under the bus and asking them to have sensitivity training to the aggressors in the situation, and it just defies logic,” Deming said. “Nobody told us to take off our arm bands at graduation in support of Tiananmen Square, and I don’t think that’s the case now.” 

Sloman worried about the termination of the Deering Meadow agreement. She said she imagines Palestinian students and pro-Palestine students feel that “the school has absolutely turned their backs on them.”

She also expressed concern about what the deal means for gender-affirming care and LGBTQ+ students. 

In the deal, the University agreed to continue to provide single-sex housing for women by request and all-female sports, locker rooms and showering facilities, upholding its commitment to Title IX. The agreement uses the definitions of sex and female defined by an executive order, defining sex as “immutable biological classification as either male or female,” not including the concept of “gender identity.”

The agreement also requires the University to revise all policies and public-facing protocols on gender-affirming hormonal interventions and surgeries for minors at Feinberg School of Medicine. 

“We are removing safety and support from their lives, and that is terrifying because we know the outcome that has for so many individuals, and it’s poor mental health and it is poor functioning,” Sloman said. “That is not what they deserve, that is not the university they agreed to attend, were probably so excited to attend, and frankly are spending tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend.” 

Deming said the deal made her lose faith in NU. She said she worries that once one university capitulates, everyone will, saying all American universities are complicit if they do not stand up to the Trump administration.  

“Trump is kind of a bully who’s been called to the principal’s office, and everybody’s laughing at him, and then Northwestern is like the kid who gives Trump their lunch money,” Deming said.

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