Caving By Any Other Name

Disappointed with Northwestern

Early on, when the trump adminstration was coercing colleges into toeing the MAGA line, it looked like universities might resist. I could not be more disappointed to see that Northwestern caved into trump's demands AND had the temerity to claim that it was preserving its independence while doing so.

Northwestern's $14.3 billion endowment could have been prudently used to cover some or all of the federal funding the government threatened to withhold.

Forgiveness

In this excellent post on Why Forgiving (Not Forgetting) Marjorie Taylor Greene May Make Sense for America (and Me) Marie Newman reiterates the concept that Forgiveness is for you, it is not for the offending party. Newman did not originate the concept, but somehow I hadn't heard it before (or forgot if I did) so she gets the credit. There are of course, differing schools of thought about this view of forgiveness, but it makes sense to me, at least in context of MTG or, Northwestern University for cravenly capitulating to the trump adminstrations demands to give up its independence and pay a huge fine in order to preserve some federal funding.

Some more thoughts, in no particular order added Dec 30, 2025

Northwestern could look at this example of how to stand up to a bully who is threatening to stop federal funding: NPR's CEO Katherine_Maher's wikipedia entry

Is it too late?

Northwestern can draw from its own history of breaking agreements if it believes it's too late to assert independence.

If it can dissolve the Deering Meadow Agreement, it can also back out of its capitulation to trump. Then again, it might have to acknowledge the existence of the Deering Meadow Agreement in order to reinstate it.

For now, I'm not yet burning my Northwestern Wildcats hoodie, but I'm also no longer wearing it in public.

Also see: Pritzker professors question legality of Northwestern funding deal