Northwestern Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris provided an update on University finances at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting at Simpson-Querrey Auditorium in Chicago.
“The university’s budget is stable and healthy,” Barris said. “Not without pressures, but no longer in crisis.”
Barris opened his remarks addressing recent challenges the University has faced, beginning with the federal government freezing $790 million in funding in April 2025. The University struck a deal with the Trump Administration to restore funding in November.
Barris said the Board would not compromise NU’s “hiring, admissions, curriculum and research direction” following the agreement.
“There were red lines in terms of academic freedom and the independence of the institution that we would not allow to be breached,” Barris said.
Barris’ last visit to the Faculty Senate, in April 2025, came shortly after the announcement of the funding freeze. Now, funding research expenditures is mostly “getting back to normal,” Barris said.
NU Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amanda Distel said at a Faculty Senate meeting Jan. 21, the University had to take “painful budget reductions,” ending Fiscal Year 2025 with “an operating deficit of almost $150 million,” which resulted in University finances roughly breaking even.
Former University President Michael Schill resigned in September 2025. Interim President Henry Bienen told The Daily in an Oct. 17 interview that he plans to step down by late spring.
Barris said the Presidential Search Committee is “not focused on a specific timeline” but rather “identifying and attracting the best leader.”
“This isn’t going to go beyond the academic year; I’m quite confident,” Barris said. “We’re going to have a president, but I don’t know the timeline.”
Following his remarks, Barris answered faculty members’ questions regarding the University’s relationship with faculty and shared governance, a topic that has been brought up in previous Faculty Senate meetings this year.
While faculty have dominion over academic matters, the Board and University govern decisions such as those relating to the University’s mission and finances, Barris said.
“‘Shared’ cannot mean that everybody is involved in every decision, but it does mean a sharing of input,” Barris said.
Later in the meeting, the Faculty Senate approved a letter to the Board of Trustees requesting support in facilitating shared governance with the University. The letter detailed concerns with the shared governance model, such as the University’s switch to UnitedHealthcare this year.
“Failing to include faculty in important decisions of the University betrays our trust,” the letter stated.
Another letter the Faculty Senate endorsed, addressed to the University and Weinberg Dean Adrian Randolph from the Council on Language Instruction, asked the University to increase the lowest faculty salaries, adjusting for cost-of-living expenses. The Senate approved a similar resolution proposed by the Non-Tenure Eligible Committee.
The Faculty Senate also discussed two amendments to the Faculty Handbook to establish an appeals process for faculty who have had their teaching duties suspended or believe that “a disciplinary action violates their right to academic freedom.”
The proposals were introduced by philosophy Prof. Mark Alznauer on behalf of the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee, which he chairs.
Some faculty raised concerns that restricting research duties and access to resources, such as labs, could serve as an informal form of discipline.
“I don’t have an issue with (the proposal’s language on) removal from teaching duties,” Feinberg Prof. Nicholas Cianciotto said. “But it caused me to wonder, could a similar situation be removal from research activities?”
The proposals were sent back to the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee for further review.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify Cianciotto’s position on the language of the proposed amendments to the Faculty Handbook.
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