Northwestern University agreed to pay $75 million to regain access to federal research funding, a deal that includes new limits on admissions materials and speech-related campus demonstrations. Legal and constitutional scholars told reporters the settlement’s restrictions — barring diversity narratives, limiting displays outside designated areas and banning overnight demonstrations — risk ceding institutional autonomy to federal oversight. Northwestern interim leadership defended the agreement as necessary to restore research funding; constitutional experts and faculty critics called the terms an unprecedented intrusion with potential First Amendment implications.