Luis A. Nunes Amaral: Northwestern needs better leadership to fight back against Donald Trump

Chicago Tribune

24-06-2025

On June 10, the Northwestern University community received an alarming email from university President Michael Schill and his team. The email stated that 'rising costs related to compliance requirements, health care expenses, litigation, labor contracts, employee benefits, and other forces have put an increasing strain on Northwestern's finances.' It is difficult to put into words how infuriating this statement is. Let's try, though, and start with what is missing.
President Donald Trump's administration is planning to cut federal funding for research and has already canceled or paused hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to Northwestern faculty. Exclusion of visitors from selected countries and other Trump administration immigration policies may cost the university around $100 million.
Let us now consider the things that were explicitly mentioned. The labor contracts presumably refer to the recent graduate workers' contract. Graduate workers received a salary raise of approximately 25%. Federal grants would have helped absorb the bulk of those costs — meaning that the financial concerns arise not from the raise but from the actions of the Trump administration.
We know that health care expenses have been increasing at an unsustainable rate for years. On June 12, university employees learned that our new health insurance provider will be UnitedHealthcare. Yes, that UHC, which asset manager Blackrock is suing because the insurer was approving too many claims in response to fallout over the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare's CEO. A thoughtfully led organization would have been lobbying for 'Medicare for All,' a program that could address health care costs and improve outcomes and one that has wide support among the population. I am sure as the summer quarter starts, that other announcements from Northwestern will come about other benefits.
If you live in Chicago, you have probably heard about Northwestern's litigation concerns. If you compare matters at the University of Chicago, another private school, and Northwestern, some are very similar. But litigation costs is not one of them. This is because of the role of athletics at Northwestern. You might have heard about the claim by Northwestern's former football coach that he was unjustly fired. Or about the costs of the recent NCAA settlement to universities, such as Northwestern, with expensive football and basketball programs. Or the billions spent over the last decade on Northwestern's new and renovated athletic facilities. Athletics are not mentioned in the communication from Schill because they are the pet interest of the most powerful members of the board of trustees.
Schill's actions remind me of another Mike. In Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle,' Mike Scully appears to be all powerful, but he is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the real power. Northwestern's board of trustees is our version of the Beef Trust found in 'The Jungle.' The trustees are the ones making all the decisions — who is going to make the sacrifices, whose voices are going to be heard and whose voices are going to be ignored.
The trustees did not buy the university, they did not build it and they are not the ones making it great. The trustees are supposed to provide guidance and oversight but not to manage — and definitely not to micromanage.
A more appropriate model for a university is a partnership. That is the governance model of consulting and law firms, even very large ones. In such a partnership at a university, faculty members operate quite independently while coordinating their actions and decisions. In contrast, Northwestern faculty, staff and students are all but shut out.
It does not need to be like this. Princeton University is going through the same challenges as Northwestern. At Princeton, the board of trustees advises but does not direct, a professor told me. Moreover, at Princeton, the president and deans have been holding monthly meetings open to all. Princeton has also held facultywide elections to select faculty tasked with discussing the plans for how to handle the current crisis. At Northwestern, we receive instead the occasional email claiming a commitment 'to being transparent and honest' but with the advice that 'the best way to engage is by connecting through your unit leadership directly.'
Northwestern's leadership chooses not to afford the members of its community a shred of respect. On April 21, 456 faculty members attended and voted on a resolution during a faculty assembly, the highest deliberative organ of the faculty. Schill, who was supposed to chair the assembly, was absent. In a recent interview for The Daily Northwestern, he dismissed the outcome of the meeting, the first ever to reach a quorum that is artificially inflated, stating that the assembly represented the opinion of fewer than 10% of the faculty.
Difficult times are ahead for higher education. In fact, difficult times are ahead for our entire society. Sacrifices will have to be made. World War II in the U.S. showed that people can make great sacrifices willingly and happily if they feel the pain is being shared equally. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to build unity and a sense of purpose by letting previously silenced groups to the table.
It would be an understatement to say that Schill is no FDR. He should be able to do better, though. If he cannot, then he should resign.