President Donald Trump is flexing his stronghold on colleges across America. From pulling student visas to cutting funding, here’s how local universities are already affected.
Revoking Student Visas
As of April 14, 4,700 students nationwide have had their student visas revoked.
That number includes students from at least 18 schools in Illinois. Among them, DePaul University, Northeastern Illinois University, Northwestern University; School of Art Institute Chicago, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois Chicago.
So far, no Illinois universities have disclosed why students lost their visas. In late March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department would target international students who participate in political activism.
A recent Northwestern grad who lost his visa is suing the government, saying he was not involved in political activity and has no criminal record. A DePaul student is suing as well. His lawyer says no reason for the termination was given.
Northwestern Hit Hardest
Earlier this month, the federal government revoked $790 million in funding from Northwestern University and issued more than 100 stop work orders for a range of projects, including research into Parksinson’s disease, robotics, and foreign military training. The following day, Northwestern administrators warned researchers to reduce spending.
In February, the university was put under investigation by the education and justice departments over accusations of antisemitism, the Daily Northwestern reported.
Cuts to Health Research Funding
In early February, Illinois and 21 other states sued over the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) broad attempt to cut research grants. A federal judge granted a temporary freeze on the cuts.
The University of Chicago has more than 3,000 active NIH grants totaling more than $1 billion. On April 10, NIH cut an additional 13 grants to Northwestern University, totaling more than $60 million in obligated funding. Several of those projects included research focused on health issues among sexual and racial minorities.
DEI
On Feb. 14, a memo from the Department of Education threatened to pull federal funding from schools that in any way differentiate students based on race. Following that notice, multiple Northwestern University websites removed mentions of diversity, including sites for the libraries and the Feinberg School of Medicine.
Later, the University of Chicago was named among nearly 50 institutions under investigation for alleged racial discrimination, namely over its partnership with the PhD Project, a nonprofit focused on increasing diversity in business.
On April 11, following a lawsuit threat from the Department of Justice, the State of Illinois and six universities suspended a minority-only scholarship program. Those schools include Northwestern, Loyola University Chicago, and UChicago.
