Straws in the Wind - Part 19

From the Wall St. Journal: ...Through the spring, Northwestern used university money to pay bills previously covered by NIH grants, spending tens of millions of dollars monthly to keep labs and trials running without a break. Researchers and administrators now worry this stopgap can’t last. “The university is totally keeping us on life support,” said Dr. Daniela Matei, a Northwestern oncologist. “The big question is for how long they can do this.”

For decades, Northwestern celebrated—and relied on—its growing pot of government funding. Now it’s a liability. The sudden collapse of the once-symbiotic relationship between the federal government and higher education is torpedoing a half-century-old university business model and upending how science is done.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has cut or frozen billions of dollars in research funding to universities and proposed slashing budgets at government science agencies. Cutting federal funding, which accounts for more than half of university research funds nationwide, has been one of the main tools Trump has used to pressure universities to change their ways. A Trump administration official told the media that $790 million in federal funds to the Illinois university would be frozen... Northwestern is one of 10 schools identified by the Trump administration’s federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism as initial targets. The Midwestern university drew national attention when school leaders last spring cut a deal with pro-Palestinian students to end an on-campus encampment... University leaders acknowledged that campus policies weren’t strong enough in response to antisemitic incidents in the wake of Oct. 7, a Northwestern spokesman said, but they’ve since seen a significant decrease in antisemitism reports after updating their code of conduct and consistently enforcing violations...

Full story at https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/northwestern-funding-freeze-trump-85d49da2.