LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are urging the administration to team up with other Big Ten schools to protect each other from federal funding cuts.
“It is very much NATO for the Big Ten,” assistant professor Elizabeth Niehaus said Friday.
Prestigious universities like Columbia and Harvard are facing steep federal funding cuts and potential legal battles against the Trump administration.
Over $400 million is being cut from Columbia’s funding, and President Donald Trump is freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants for Harvard.
As these arguments between higher education and the federal government grow, other colleges are worried they will soon be on the chopping block.
“Harvard might be able to withstand that… that’s still to be determined,” Niehaus said. “But I could tell you, UNL could not.”
So several Big Ten schools are trying to prepare.
Recently, the faculty at Rutgers introduced a new idea called the Mutual Defense Compact.
Under the compact, if any Big Ten university is politically or legally targeted, it would get help from other schools in the conference, whether that be providing lawyers, money or research.
Niehaus learned about this compact and brought it to the attention of UNL’s Faculty Senate.
The Senate is made up of representatives of various academic departments and serves as the voice of all UNL educators.
Niehaus said the compact is widely supported by the staff at UNL, and the Senate quickly approved it.
“For our very diverse Faculty Senate to come together and say, ‘This isn’t partisan, it isn’t about who you voted for; this is about our need to protect our institution so we can continue to do this great work,’ I think that’s really reassuring.”
Professors at Indiana University and Michigan State are also pushing for this compact.
Many other faculty senates are considering the idea.
The UNL senate is calling on NU President Jeffrey Gold to support this compact.
“The next step is our leaders have to listen to their faculty and actually do this.”
NU said in a statement, “Academic freedom is a cornerstone of higher education, enabling faculty to teach, conduct research, and engage with our Nebraska communities. The University of Nebraska firmly supports our faculty, staff and learners.”