The Daily asked students what they thought and how they felt about Northwestern’s November agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding.
JULIA PRICE: I feel like a slow descent into fascism starts by just letting these sort of little things slide, until all of a sudden, our entire curriculum is being controlled.
ELIZA MARTIN: That was Communication junior Julia Price, sharing her concerns about Northwestern’s recent federal funding deal with the Trump administration.
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ELIZA MARTIN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Eliza Martin. This is What’s New at NU, a podcast about everything from mainstage NU issues and events to those hidden in the nooks and crannies of campus.
On November 28, Northwestern reached an agreement with the Trump administration. This deal restored approximately $790 million in federal research funding that had been frozen since April 2025. As part of the agreement, Northwestern has since made statements surrounding international student policies, campus antisemitism, gender definitions and more.
As campus life returns for Winter Quarter, The Daily asked students for their thoughts about the deal. Price is one of several students who expressed mixed feelings.
JULIA PRICE: On the very, very opposite side, we do need that federal funding. There is a lot of stem cell research that is being done by our school that… My father passed away from cancer, and a lot of the stem cell research they’re doing there is to help cure things like cancer and other diseases, and if we run out of that funding, if the lights go off in that lab, that is years’ worth of work that is just destroyed out of nowhere.
ELIZA MARTIN: Price refers to grants and contracts from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education and Health and Human Services that were paused during the federal funding freeze.
Some students, like Communication junior Steph-Ann Dejean, voice frustration with Northwestern’s leadership. Dejean felt that Interim President Henry Bienen used the federal funding restoration deal as justification for statements he already planned on making.
STEPH-ANN DEJEAN: I honestly just think it’s disrespectful to the students. I think Bienen saying that “it was for the students and I did my best” is ridiculous, especially because the Deering Meadow Agreement was one of the first things that he took away.
ELIZA MARTIN: Northwestern reached the Deering Meadow Agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters to end an encampment in 2024. It included promises to provide forms of support for Palestinian students and faculty, and to provide and renovate a house for MENA and Muslim students, which was projected to be finished in 2026.
The Deering Meadow Agreement was officially terminated by Northwestern’s deal with the Trump administration, which Dejean felt reflected the University’s abandonment of support for Muslim students.
STEPH-ANN DEJEAN: I’m pretty sure the specific dorm for people who practice the Muslim religion and can’t really be around — specifically, hijabis can’t be around males and etc — that was already apparently going to be in the works. And then for you to put that in the agreement, and then for it to be slashed federally, it’s like, “Oh, okay, so is that going to be a thing?” Like, “Are you going to actually support those students?” No.
ELIZA MARTIN: Though Dejean brought up specific points in the agreement, several students turned down interview requests from The Daily due to not having read the agreement.
Others, like McCormick first-year Stephen Perez, mostly knew about the negotiations through conversations with peers.
STEPHEN PEREZ: I’ve heard from other people that the Northwestern agreement kind of bent the knee to the Trump administration, and they just gave up the fight at the end to get their money back.
ELIZA MARTIN: Perez is not alone in taking cues from conversations around him. While some students may not be interested in reading the agreement, others choose to hold their tongues due to identity.
First-year Weinberg student Chung Yu Kwok said that her friends were upset at the agreement, but that she didn’t know much about it.
CHUNG YU KWOK: There’s a number of people who I know are actively planning to oppose it, but then not that many, because a lot of us, I think, are just eager to keep our heads down. I’m an international student, personally, and I know that a lot of us don’t like to make too many waves.
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ELIZA MARTIN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Eliza Martin. Thanks for listening to another episode of What’s New at NU. This episode was reported and produced by Eliza Martin.
The Audio Editor is Ruby Dowling. The Multimedia Managing Editors are Femi Horrall, Yong-Yu Huang and Jonah McClure. The Editor in Chief is Emily Lichty.
Our theme music is “He’s Gonna Come and Get You Baby” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.
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