>> Northwestern University is agreeing to pay 75 million dollars to the federal government in settlement.

The deal will the Trump administration would bring back hundreds of millions in federal research grants frozen earlier this year and end investigations on discrimination.

But students and faculty are divided on the deal with opponents blasting it is government overreach.

While supporters say it was a result of the university's failure to protect Jewish students, Northwestern leadership, meanwhile, insists the university will keep its autonomy.

>> It was the best and most certain method to restore our federal funding both now and in the future.

I'm deeply grateful for the board of Trustees which authorized the funding.

Frozen research grants over the past 7 months.

But at a cost of roughly 40 million month, this was simply not sustainable.

As I said before.

Suing would have cost time and money and we believe the university could not risk.

>> Joining us, our Laura Beth Nielsen, sociologist at Northwestern University, Jonah Rubin, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace.

And on zoom, Lisa Fields, Lewis, National Chair of the Coalition against Anti-Semitism at Northwestern or can thanks to all 3 of you for joining us.

Laura both Laura Beth University leadership.

They have said that this is the best available option to restore this funding.

What's your reaction to that argument to the settlement?

>> Well, it's important to remember the context in which this is happening, which is that the Trump administration withheld lawfully appropriated funds and threatened in the future to withhold funds.

This is illegal to advance their own policy preferences.

There's a lot to talk about in this deal and the constitutionality and legality about each individual provision is worth exploring.

But the context in which this is happening is that the Trump administration is using its funding as a cudgel to force Northwestern to that enact their policy preferences, some of which are unconstitutional and many of which are illegal.

And we'll get into some of a little bit more in this conversation as But it to a lot of people have to have criticized the University for not holding out.

>> taking this to court as Harvard University But the President, President Biden has said that that would take years.

can't risk that.

Well, it take years for Harvard to begin having their funding restored and while all of us are concerned about anything on campus that and creates divisions are makes people feel excluded.

What we're looking at is the removal of science and the scientific compacted and review research proposals through peer review scientific process.

Ease.

So even the faculty who are relieved to have their funding restored and for whom this might look like a good deal are very concerned about the policy implications associated with political meddling in science, Lisa Fields, Louis, you and the coalition that you work with you all support this deal.

Tell us why.

>> We think it's a great first step in making sure that your students are protected on Northwestern's campus.

We have been working closely with students and faculties and aggrieved parties and kind of helping them an audience in front of the government with stories of frightening title 6 violations.

And all I can tell you is that this is happening to Northwestern and it's not happening to dozens of other schools around the country.

It's not having to Amherst.

It's not happening to Dartmouth.

Northwestern's administration seems to be by government findings extremely in violation of U.S.

law from 1964, of title 6 and we're just thrilled that now Northwestern has to really make sure that your students and all students feel safe.

campus and there are I 100 different provisions of this deal.

So obviously it was considered a serious violation.

There are on a 60 paragraph and the 75 million dollar fine is enormous.

I think it's the second biggest after Colombia's 200 Million.

And I just would say there's a reason why Northwestern's in the cross fires of the government here and they seem to have crossed a line and we're really happy that the government to this first step.

>> You mentioned government findings and yesterday at your organization's press conference, you all talked about some of the the details and information that people had been sharing with the government.

Is there a government report or what that helping the rest of us?

No.

What Northwestern is guilty of.

>> Well, after ex president, she'll spoke at Congress last year.

They published findings.

So if anybody wants to comb through that, you can see some of the it counts of what happened at school.

Most of the student OCR complaints are confidential and made support and confidence in order to protect their privacy.

and make sure that they were not retaliated against.

But I would encourage everybody to read the document of the entire testimony of show at the at Congress and then behind closed doors.

it's utterly.

It's really shocking.

And there was an example of the provost offering to take a certain brand of homeless off of the cat out of the cafeterias as a nod to the BDS movement, hoping that that would be considered again.

So we got a really interesting inside scoop into what was going on in that negotiation, if you will it.

never happened in the first place.

But all of that is public knowledge.

Now.

>> So, Jonah, this deal it and does the during Meadow agreement that the university struck to end the pro-Palestinian encampments that were on campus last year calling for further restrictions on when and how students can protest near campus buildings.

What concerns do you have there?

>> You know, this is agreement that does nothing to protect the safety of drugs on campus.

The Dairy Meadow agreement granted.

Scholarships to policy as students flee from Gaza free from the genocide.

In order to study at one of the prestige institutions in this country taking away their scholarships does not make safe.

Making a Palestinian professor with the university brought as part of its scholars at risk for program to Northwestern.

Taken him out.

Does not make sure safe and taking away a space for Muslim.

I students to pray and express our culture does not need to save.

have always thrived in places that value minority rights and minority of religious rights and to see Western sacrifice.

Those rights it order to kneel down before Trump in order to take the easy path out as a as a personal values, these types of minority rights offensively.

>> Laura Beth, what does what does all this mean?

You know, this this deal, it releases the 790 million dollars in research grants that had been on pause since April.

The university has had to make concessions such as providing more information to the government about hiring admission and academics.

We've talked about the 75 million dollar fine, second-highest a second, too.

Columbia University is what does all this mean for the university and students?

Yeah, well, first, I think it's important to say that the agreement explicitly states that Northwestern is not admitting that didn't matter if just a >> but what it means is that we are beholden to the Trump administration's policy preferences on things that have nothing to do with Title 6 and antisemitism on campus.

The remedies under title 6.

If there is a if their race violations or under title 9, if their gender violations, the remedy for that is not the removal of all federal research funds.

There's a process under the civil rights laws.

I study them myself.

This is not the process.

but what it means is that Northwestern has given up the rights of our students that they that they enjoy so First Amendment rights.

We've given up academic freedom to research really important areas.

Harmon research, research on disparity, right?

Because not all the grants are coming back.

So only some grants are coming back and grants about gender.

So there's the transgender issues really important to a lot of members of our community and gender non-binary and trans students who need medical care.

Folks who want to do research in that area, the kind of hormonal research there is also being used for everything from cancer.

2, her research is really important.

Those grants may not come back.

Cranes about racial disparities in medical and outcomes may not come back because they're considered dei.

So we've given up a lot of ground that has nothing to do with the question of Anti-Semitism on our campus.

We said what he about.

>> Well, we're here specifically to talk in our case about Anti-Semitism by the coalition.

against Anti-Semitism at Northwestern.

And that's issue that we care the most about.

The fact that we are in this position is largely because Anti-Semitism went unchecked.

It Northwestern for so long that these fines were assessed against Northwestern.

And the fact is that like when I listen to these allegations of genocide there are these broad allegations without any substantiation behind we wouldn't be here with actual students didn't come forward with claims a feeling unsafe and harassed by faculty and by other students in clubs.

And in classrooms by their peers and by their faculty.

So from our perspective, that's the key thing we wanted to solve against.

And with regard to the demonstration policy, keep in mind, it's it's it feels a little like scare tactics because students are still allowed to demonstrate.

But there is time place and manner.

And you cannot just struck other students from trying to get across remember, you can't disrupt other students from trying to take tests.

We have to place again, students who couldn't concentrate because it was screaming outside of their classroom.

As long as the protests stay in line with northwestern rules, norms and American law.

We're fine with all of process alive.

That's why we're here.

And that in the >> Yeah, let's fair.

public polling shows that the vast majority of American Jews do not support the Trump administration's authoritarian attacks on higher education.

We believe that those attacks make anti semitism worse, not better.

There's a very good reason for that right?

It's because Trump administration is trying to use Jews as the face of its attacks on trans students as the face of its attacks on international students who come to country to try to live and study at our beautiful institutions to try to make who's the face of attacks on students of color, voice for peace.

We stand up say you do not get to attack other vulnerable populations, our freedom, our liberation, it's bound up intimately and ability of other minorities, religious ethnic to thrive.

That's what we stand hand-in-hand with And with the majority of American Jews, it's that these attacks on higher education should not be done in our name and do not make us Lisa, what do you say to that?

Because we've heard that argument before that the Trump administration is using Anti-Semitism as an opportunity.

we've heard from our guests here tonight as an opportunity to to seek to gain control.

>> Over institutions of higher Ed.

>> What do you think?

back to what I said at the beginning.

First of all, again, I read these things.

I hear these things.

They feel like brought scare tactics without any substantiation behind it from the beginning of the Trump campaign, there been allegations of fascism and what's going to happen to our country.

But there's not a whole lot of meat there to back it up.

So I really think that, you know, we have to look at that and it's really I'm really concerned about Northwestern here.

And let's look at the fact that this is not against all universities around the country.

This is select few that really crossed the line into illegal antisemitic behavior.

And that's why Northwestern is in the crosshairs.

If this was flat out all universities around the country, we might have a different discussion.

But Northwestern clearly crossed the line here and the discrimination against harassment students.

And that has to be addressed or and that is that's where we'll