Responding to Challenging Issues
Dear members of the Northwestern community,
The federal government has issued Executive Orders and related agency actions at an unprecedented pace in recent weeks. The path forward on these interconnected issues is frequently complex and often unclear, and we recognize the toll that uncertainty takes on our faculty, staff and students. As guidance is issued and clarified, we are taking the necessary time to evaluate the rules and respond carefully and thoughtfully.
Among the most recent developments, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance late Friday about how educational institutions, including Northwestern, must implement federal law with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. This guidance followed a Jan. 21 Executive Order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which prohibits federal funding for organizations deemed to be discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
The Executive Order and OCR letter state that DEI programs and policies are no longer allowed in educational settings and that institutions that do not comply could lose federal funding. In part, the OCR letter reads:
“The law is clear: treating students different on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent. ... Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies and all other aspects of student, academic and campus life.”
The letter goes on to say that the Department of Education will “vigorously” enforce the law with respect to all educational institutions that receive federal assistance.
The federal government provides Northwestern hundreds of millions of dollars every year in student financial aid (Pell grants) and research grants. We currently are analyzing the Executive Order and OCR letter and their potential impacts on the University. As we do that review, we bear in mind that our choices could have major impacts on the University community. In the days and weeks ahead, Northwestern leaders will work with members of our community to assess and, in some cases, implement changes.
As we take actions to protect our University community, we remain committed to making decisions consistent with our core academic values and principles. These include our mission to attract and support exceptional students, faculty and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds, perspectives and geographies who will learn from one another and contribute to research that changes the world.
As we bring these exceptional people to our campuses, we also believe that it is important for all members of our community to feel that they belong here and thereby can flourish and do their best work. Because we are committed to bringing together people of different backgrounds and perspectives, this may require a variety of different support mechanisms responsive to the needs of our community, including academic counseling, student and employee groups, community building and programmatic activity. Every member of our community should feel welcome at any of these or other University activities regardless of their socioeconomic status, political viewpoint or protected characteristic, such as religion, race, national origin or gender.
The role of the University is to provide members of our community the tools to discover for themselves what they believe in and opportunities for realization of those beliefs. Our commitment to learning from one another means the University needs to adopt programs that expose people to views that are different from their own and give them opportunities to engage respectfully across difference. Through our new Center for Enlightened Disagreement, we are developing these opportunities and spreading evidence-based best practices through our research.
This is an unprecedented time for American higher education and for Northwestern. We are confident that by working together, we will successfully navigate the changes coming our way and continue the remarkable trajectory of excellence we have experienced over the past several decades.