Northwestern University President Michael Schill announced Thursday he is resigning from the school after a tenure marked by attacks from Republican officials, widespread student protests and mass layoffs spurred by Trump administration funding cuts.
Schill announced his resignation after three years in an email to the Northwestern community, saying the school is “on a stronger footing.”
“Over the past three years, it has been my profound honor to serve as President of Northwestern University,” Schill wrote in the email. “In that time, our community has made significant progress while simultaneously facing extraordinary challenges.”
During his time, students joined a nationwide movement of encampments last spring in support of Palestinian people and was one of the only encampments that ended peacefully without police intervention. Schill appeared before Congress last May shortly after negotiating a deal with protesters to end the encampment, and Republican members of Congress characterized the deal as a surrender to what they called antisemitic activists.
“Let me tell you why you earned an F,” said Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, referring to the Anti-Defamation League’s rating for Northwestern’s handling of antisemitism. “I want to discuss what has been referred to as the Deering Meadows agreement: your unilateral capitulation to the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel antisemitic encampment.”
While some Jewish students joined the encampment and maintained that criticizing Israel was not antisemitic, some Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the Brandeis Center called for Schill’s resignation and scolded him for negotiating with pro-Palestine protesters.
“[The agreement was] not only sacrificing Jewish students’ safety, but rewarding behavior that was threatening to Jewish students,” said Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of at ADL Midwest, on Thursday.
Schill, who is Jewish, defended the agreement and said it was an example of using “dialogue rather than force” to navigate student dissent.
Following the encampment, the university mandated an antisemitism training in partnership with organizations, including the ADL, for students. Weininger described this initiative as an “incredible stride.” The university has since been bumped up from an “F” to a “C” rating by the ADL.
Schill also garnered criticism from some students involved in the encampment who accused him of buckling to Trump.
Josh Fleckner, a Northwestern graduate involved in the encampment while on campus, said Schill often caved when pressured by the federal government.
“He accepted the premise that he should have been doing more to punish antisemitism,” said Fleckner, who is Jewish. “He never listened to what the encampment was about.”
Last month, Northwestern announced 425 layoffs as the school faced a $790 million federal research funding freeze. Earlier this summer, the university announced cost-cutting measures including a hiring freeze, canceling bonuses and cutting the tuition benefits program, which assists employees with the cost of Northwestern courses.
The squeeze on Northwestern’s federal funding is part of the Trump administration’s larger diatribe against higher education since he took office again in January. The administration has frozen hundreds of millions of research funds from some of the country’s most elite universities in hopes of pushing them to adopt its preferred policies.
Schill is the latest in a string of presidents to step down at colleges targeted by President Donald Trump.
Columbia President Katrina Armstrong resigned in March after the school, which launched the encampment movement and was gripped by tension between protesters and police, complied with his administration’s demands, including adding 36 campus safety officers with arrest powers, oversight over the school’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department and an official definition of antisemitism.
University of Virginia President James E. Ryan stepped down after the Justice Department demanded his resignation while the federal government targeted the school over its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
But students and faculty at universities, including Northwestern, have pushed back against anti-immigration actions, anti-DEI moves and funding cuts. They implored administrators not to capitulate to Trump’s demands after the federal government ended the legal status of more than 1,000 international students without due process or explanation.
In his email, Schill recognized some of the university’s advancements over his three years there, including integrating artificial intelligence and constructing a new social sciences and global affairs building. But he also acknowledged the uphill battle Northwestern may continue to face with the federal government’s continued cuts to higher education and said it’s time for new leadership.
“Also recognize that difficult problems remain, particularly at the federal level,” Schill wrote. “It is critical that we continue to protect the University’s research mission and excellence while preserving academic freedom, integrity, and independence.”
Schill was also scrutinized for his handling of a scandal that shook the university and its storied football team when players alleged sexual, physical and emotional hazing shortly after Schill arrived at Northwestern. Schill suspended the team’s coach Patrick Fitzgerald, and subsequently fired him after an explosive story in the student newspaper The Daily Northwestern detailed the hazing allegations, which included nudity and lewd acts.
Fitzgerald filed a $130 million lawsuit against the school for wrongful termination, and settled the case last month.
But in its statement about Schill’s resignation, the university praised his response to the scandal and highlighted student-athlete protections that have since been implemented.
Prof. Jackie Stevens, chapter president of the American Association of University Professors, described Schill’s tenure as a “colossal failure,” and said he should have been able to handle the position’s challenges.
“The pressures are ones that are part of the responsibilities of any president and university board,” Stevens told the Sun-Times. “The outcome has to do with the disastrous management of Northwestern’s president and the Board [of Trustees].”
The university’s Board of Trustees will name an interim president soon, and Schill will continue his work until then and help the new president transition to the role, according to a statement from the university. Schill is planning to take a sabbatical then return to teach and do research at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law.
Stevens said she hopes the Board of Trustees will be transparent with faculty during the process of choosing an interim president. The board should consider trying to appoint a president who won’t appease Trump, but finding someone who will push back more than Schill did could be difficult, Fleckner said.
“It’s unlikely they’ll appoint a new president who is going to be any braver,” he said. “The [Board of Trustees] doesn’t want someone who will stand up to Trump.”
Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris said Schill was devoted to Northwestern despite the turbulence in his tenure.
“In spite of many headwinds, President Schill and his administration worked diligently to defend Northwestern’s mission and accomplished lasting achievements that contribute robustly to Northwestern’s continued advancement among the great universities in the United States and around the globe,” Barris said in the statement.
