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A handful of educators from the college spoke out in an op-ed, demanding that school leadership fight for its rights.
A group of Northeastern professors wrote an op-ed in the school’s newspaper, The Huntington News, calling Bostonians to speak out and fight for university rights and funding.
The op-ed said federal funding cuts, freezes, and policies restricting research on topics like women’s health and discrimination threaten Boston’s institutions. The cuts, the professors say, undermine crucial research that benefits public health and national security, such as cancer and cybersecurity studies.
Despite these challenges, the professors point out how many university leaders have remained silent, failing to defend what they see as universities’ essential role in fostering innovation and protecting democratic values.
“I think the silence coming from Northeastern leadership has been deafening to many of us,” Kylie Bemis, an assistant teaching professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern, told Boston.com.
Bemis is one of the lead authors of the op-ed and identifies as a trans woman and a Native American.
She first became involved while working on a grant proposal for the National Institutes of Health earlier this year, knowing it was futile. After all, she realized that her bio, as described accurately, would likely be enough reason for the administration to deny her funding.
After wrapping up the grant, Bemis began speaking out to her fellow faculty members and writing some open letters. Through her letters, she met with other professors who shared her beliefs. One professor, Rahul Bhargava, contacted her about writing the op-ed.
The op-ed was in response to how the school has acted so far. Northeastern put out an FAQ, but Bemis said the school’s leadership has not provided useful information or taken action.
Bemis says it feels like the school’s president is hiding.
“Our university community needs some answers and some accountability, and we’ve heard nothing,” said Bemis.
In response, Northeastern’s spokeswoman Renata Nyul told Boston.com, “Northeastern has more than 2,600 full-time faculty members across 13 campuses. Their views span the entire political spectrum and we value their passion for Northeastern.”
Nyul also pointed to a Feb. 12 statement from the school’s president, Joseph Aoun.
“We are working tirelessly with the relevant associations in Washington, and with our peer institutions, to safeguard these activities,” Aoun said. “It is also important to recognize that each and every one of us has a role to play in helping move Northeastern forward and in shaping a shared vision for the future.”
Drawing lessons from Columbia University’s compliance with Trump’s demands, the op-ed’s authors warn that silence enables further attacks on universities.
“We must learn no amount of appeasement will satisfy Donald Trump’s regime,” the op-ed read.
Bemis said university leaders are so focused on protecting funding and research that they ignore the suffering of transgender students, immigrant students, faculty facing lost grant funding, and concerns over safety on campus, especially after a Tufts student was taken off the streets by ICE agents.
“I think it’s important that we stand up not just for our funding but to protect our academic community,” said Bemis.
University leadership has provided feedback saying that speaking out would be performative, Bemis said. But Bemis thinks otherwise, saying the administration has tried to abuse students’ due process by making many “disappear” and taking away their free speech.
“Words are a threat that has real power,” she said.
In the op-ed, the professors call on Northeastern and Boston communities to unite behind demanding action from university, industry, and political leaders to protect academic freedom, research, and vulnerable communities.
“Boston doesn’t bow to kings,” the op-ed read. “Our universities are worth fighting for.”
Read the full op-ed here.
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