Northwestern University laid off 425 of its 4,300 faculty Tuesday amid a funding freeze of $790 million posed by the federal government. This mass-layoff comes after Columbia University recently settled with the White House a $220 million deal, while Harvard University is in talks for a similar, though costlier, settlement. The staffing budget will also decrease by 5% percent.
Similar to several other universities, the US Government froze funding for Northwestern due to pro-Palestinian protests and alleged antisemitism on campus after an investigation.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, “The university said that of the 425 positions, nearly half were currently vacant, and the exact number of layoffs was unclear.”
The university, which has a $14.2 billion endowment, regrets making the hefty staff cuts, though it deems them necessary.
“This is a difficult day for Northwestern, and we are carrying out today’s actions with care and compassion,” a university spokesperson told Evanston Now. “While deeply painful, today’s reduction in workforce will help ensure our University can continue to serve its mission to be one of the world’s great institutions of teaching and research for generations to come.”
“This kind of agreement ends the Northwestern that so many people in Chicago land are so proud of,” Sociology Professor Laura Beth Nielsen said, critical of the university’s actions which she deems to be capitulatory. “It really motivated us to want to speak out before such a deal is made and implore our Board of Trustees and our president to not capitulate. Don’t give in to this blackmail. We know it’s going to be a tough road, but it won’t stop here.”
A group of “concerned faculty” argued in The Daily Northwestern that the White House’s conduct toward the university is unconstitutional.
“The funds withheld by the executive branch were appropriated by Congress. In withholding them, the Trump administration defies the constitutional separation of powers, federal statutes, First Amendment protections of free speech and longstanding principles of academic freedom,” they wrote. “These laws and norms are essential to democracy, and we implore Northwestern to defend them.”
The faculty called further for Northwestern to abandon any attempt to make a deal with the White House and to devote itself to defending “academic freedom, protect political dissent and resist participating in federal efforts to chill speech, punish protest and weaponize antisemitism for political ends.”
