Confronting the Pandemic and Social Injustice

This issue of Northwestern Magazine tells the stories of individuals in our community who have been playing extraordinary roles fighting the pandemic in recent months (see “The Stories of Our Lives”) and others who are leading change in our society through speaking out against injustices and racism, such as Northwestern professor kihana miraya ross (see “It’s Time to Abolish Schools”) The crises of 2020 have brought forth the very best in our people.

Members of the Northwestern community are able to lead and have an impact in part because of the strong foundation provided by We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern. The Campaign, the most ambitious fundraising initiative in the University’s 169-year history, has helped support students facing heightened adversity, bolster high-impact research, and attract, retain and nurture the world-class faculty who expand the frontiers of knowledge and create meaningful contributions across every academic discipline.

Gifts from alumni, parents and friends have enabled our faculty to perform timely and urgently needed work, such as designing new materials to counteract shortages in personal protective equipment and other supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.

Through their gifts to our Student Emergency and Essential Needs (SEEN) Fund, Campaign supporters have also helped Northwestern students. This past spring, the University distributed more than $1.3 million in COVID-19 emergency grants to nearly 2,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students to cover their travel and learning technology needs as Northwestern transitioned to remote learning (see “Showing Support,” “We Will” Update).

Our donors are also advancing Northwestern’s continuing work for social justice and increasing access to students from underrepresented groups. Examples include the Bluhm Legal Clinic, Black Arts Initiative, Northwestern Neighborhood & Network Initiative (N3), Northwestern Academy for Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern Academy–Evanston.

As we head into the final phase of this landmark campaign, we seek increased support for strategic opportunities across the University, while also prioritizing a number of emerging needs.

For example, maintaining a diverse and thriving student body is central to our mission. But because of the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus, we expect that students in the coming years will demonstrate higher levels of financial need. Scholarships have become even more important. And students’ need for SEEN funds and our Student Enrichment Services program will continue through the next academic year and beyond.

Also, as one component of our expanded commitments to social justice and racial equity, we’ve committed to raise new funds to support the diversification of our student body and of our faculty. We will be proactive in recruiting Black and other students and scholars of color at all levels by immediately providing resources to schools and departments so they can meet this commitment.

Another priority involves improving the academic, co-curricular and campus experience of our students and providing more opportunities for them to thrive. Through the Campaign, we’ve been able to establish 445 new endowed scholarships and fellowships that benefit thousands of undergraduate and graduate students. And Campaign gifts are enhancing student mental health and well-being: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) was able to add five new staff members in Chicago and Evanston during the 2019–20 academic year to better support students both on and beyond campus.

You’ll recall that we publicly launched the “We Will” Campaign in 2014 with joint goals of raising $3.75 billion from at least 141,000 supporters. When we reached those totals two years ahead of schedule, we decided to extend the Campaign in order to invest further in Northwestern’s academic excellence.

The Campaign has continued to make remarkable progress, already nearing the $5 billion mark as we move toward a grand conclusion this academic year.