Last updated Sept. 5 at 3:02 p.m.
Northwestern President Michael Schill’s Thursday resignation prompted a barrage of reactions from lawmakers, with Washington Republicans — who have long accused Schill of failing to combat antisemitism on campus — celebrating the decision.
Many expressed satisfaction with Schill’s resignation and noted their eagerness to collaborate with his successor.
“The Trump Administration looks forward to working with new leadership, and we hope they seize this opportunity to Make Northwestern Great Again,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston wrote in an email to The Daily Thursday afternoon.
Schill’s resignation is part of a broader wave of institutional changes on campuses across the country, with NU among the elite colleges and universities targeted by President Donald Trump’s second administration. Over the past months, the administration’s attacks on higher education have turned universities into a cultural flashpoint.
Though Schill did not directly tie his announcement to political pressure, he joins a growing group of university presidents who have resigned amid mounting pressure for universities to crack down on what many Republicans have called a rise in antisemitism on college campuses.
The former presidents of Harvard University, Cornell University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania were among the first to leave their posts due to controversies over their response to student activism and their treatment of Jewish students on their campuses.
Now, Schill’s resignation comes as a number of universities — including Columbia, Brown University and Penn — have reached agreements with the White House in recent months to restore federal funding. Reports to various news outlets this summer indicated NU was also in talks with the Trump administration.
Following one other appearance on Capitol Hill in May 2024, Schill most recently appeared before the House Committee on Education and Workforce on Aug. 5 in a closed session.
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), the chairman of the committee, painted a grim picture of Schill’s legacy, accusing him of “worsening” antisemitism on campus, and enjoined Schill’s successor to “take prompt and effective action to protect Jewish students” in a statement shortly after the announcement.
Following suit, other Republican lawmakers took to social media Thursday afternoon to weigh in on Schill’s resignation.
Striking a triumphant tone, Walberg’s committee colleagues, Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah), took a victory lap on X.
“LONG overdue,” Stefanik, one of Trump’s top congressional allies and a member of the committee, wrote.
Stefanik added that Schill had “caved to the demands of the antisemitic, pro-Hamas mob on Northwestern’s campus,” referencing his previous testimony and his handling of NU’s 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) chaired the committee in 2024, when Schill was first called to testify about allegations of antisemitism.
Foxx had harsh words for NU’s president in an X post, calling Schill a “failure” and criticizing his initial appearance before the committee.
“He impeded @EdWorkforceCmte’s antisemitism investigation when I was Chair, and he failed Jewish students, faculty, and staff at @NorthwesternU,” she wrote. “The facts confirm this. Good riddance.”
Though Republicans in the nation’s capital were some of the first to respond to Schill’s resignation, it didn’t take long for Democratic lawmakers to voice their opinions too.
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston), the longtime congresswoman who has represented the district where NU resides since 1999, had kinder remarks on Schill’s leadership.
“Northwestern University is a vital part of our community, and I’m grateful for President Schill’s service during his time in leadership. I look forward to working closely with the next president to support the university’s continued success,” Schakowsky said in an email to the Daily Friday morning.
Unlike Schakowsky, Michael Blake (Medill ’04), the former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, claimed the federal government’s pressure on the University led to Schill’s announcement.
Referring to Schill as “our president” in a Thursday X post, Blake denounced Republican claims that NU is antisemitic and alleged that the government “withholds funds for Black causes.”
“Stand up for the current Cats and those who come behind us,” he wrote.
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