Northwestern University president resigns amid fights with Trump, GOP
Northwestern University President Michael Schill announced Thursday that he will resign from the post, ending a three-year tenure under which the school dealt with on-campus protests and fights with the Trump administration and GOP lawmakers.
“As I reflect on the progress we have made and what lies ahead, I believe now is the right time for new leadership to guide Northwestern into its next chapter,” Schill said in a statement. “Therefore, I have decided, in consultation with the leadership of the Board of Trustees, that I will step down as President.”
He is expected to remain in his role until the university, located near Evanston, Ill., finds an interim president. Schill added that he plans to return to teach at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law following a sabbatical.
“To me, the highest honor a person could have is being a member of our faculty and I look forward to nurturing our students and continuing to champion higher education, a cornerstone of American society that, despite its imperfections, is more important than ever to our nation’s future,” the school’s president said.
Schill faced blowback from Republicans during a Congressional hearing in 2024, who argued that the institution was failing to tackle antisemitism during on-campus protests regarding Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He has faced calls from the Anti-Defamation League to resign.
The school has also been a target of the Trump administration as the White House froze about $790 million in federal funds in April, over allegations that the school was violating a civil rights law.
Northwestern was also one of several schools accused by the administration of falling short on policies to combat rising antisemitism on campuses and not doing enough to protect Jewish students.
“To me, the highest honor a person could have is being a member of our faculty and I look forward to nurturing our students and continuing to champion higher education, a cornerstone of American society that, despite its imperfections, is more important than ever to our nation’s future,” Schill said Thursday.
His decision to step down comes after the presidents of four other universities — Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Cornell — resigned following backlash over widespread pro-Palestinian protests and amid the GOP’s probe into the rise of antisemitism incidents on campuses.