Future of Division III

[Gregory Sager]

I mean, if somebody wanted to buy the campus of the University of Chicago, it'd probably make a great location for a football stadium complex...

It would certainly allow the Bears to finally put some geographical accuracy behind their nickname "Monsters of the Midway", which they inherited in the early '40s after the U of C dropped football completely and thus had no further use for the moniker. Truth is, the Bears have never played their home games anywhere near a location called "Midway", whether it's the Midway Plaisance near the southern border of the U of C's campus (which is the reason why Amos Alonzo Stagg's Maroons gridders were dubbed with that nickname in the first place) or Midway Airport in the southwestern corner of Chicago (which was named after the Battle of Midway in World War 2).

It's a great nickname, and in particular it's associated closely with the legendary defense of the 1985 Chicago Bears that won Super Bowl XX. But it's always been an awkward fit for an NFL franchise that's played its games first on the north side at Wrigley Field and then on the downtown lakefront at Soldier Field. 

[Patrick Coleman]

Nationally, there may be an enrollment cliff of some kind, and there may be schools affected by it.

Oh, honestly, I wasn't aware that you were even admitting this much.

Never fear, I did not say Case would be affected.

[Patrick Coleman]

Regarding overall research funding at CWRU, not just NIH, it grew from $467 million in FY 22 to $643 million in FY 24.

Of course, the data isn't relevant to this discussion, because funding cuts didn't start until the current administration took over in Washington in 2025.

[MCScots2013]

Unless I'm missing something, the administration requested NIH cuts, but Congress didn't pass them. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

[WUPHF]

Unless I'm missing something, the administration requested NIH cuts, but Congress didn't pass them. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

Congress sets the budget and the President spends it.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Uhhhh......Pat.

2024 is the last time NSF updated its table.

There is no more recent data.

https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site?method=rankingbysource&ds=herd

Maybe in 2026 or perhaps 2027 there will be more up to date data.

Until then 2024 is the best data available.

As for a demographic cliff, I believe I said before that only small, weak schools will be impacted.

My six alma maters haven't really seen any impact.

[Patrick Coleman]

Uhhhh......Pat.

2024 is the last time NSF updated its table.

There is no more recent data.

https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site?method=rankingbysource&ds=herd

Maybe in 2026 or perhaps 2027 there will be more up to date data.

Until then 2024 is the best data available.

Yes -- it simply isn't relevant to a discussion of cuts in 2025 and 2026, though, is it? My point being -- bringing 2024 data to a discussion of something happening in 2025 and 2026 isn't informative.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Unless I'm missing something, the administration requested NIH cuts, but Congress didn't pass them. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

Congress sets the budget and the President spends it.

Basically.

All appropriations come from Congress.

The POTUS can't pay for anything without a Congressional appropriation; see Biden's attempt to pay off people's student loans without an appropriation from Congress.  Likewise, the POTUS/Exec Branch can't unilaterally cut off any funding that Congress has already appropriated; see Trump and his attempts to cut off PBS/NPR funding.

When it comes to money and taxes, it's all about Congress.

[DagarmanSpartan]

As for 2025 research, there was a modest reduction in CWRU's research budget.

It went from $624 million in 2024 to $596 million in 2025.

https://case.edu/financialplanning/sites/default/files/2025-09/Key%20Facts%20and%20Assumptions.pdf

But again, without a table showing comparative standing, I can't say there was a huge impact.

Any federal cuts would likely affect everyone else as well, and might well leave CWRU's comparative position unchanged.

Regarding NIH specifically, CWRU got $170 million in 2025.

https://report.nih.gov/award/index.cfm?ot=&fy=2025&state=OH&ic=&fm=&orgid=&distr=&rfa=&om=n&pid=&view=statedetail

Again......CWRU's medical school lives on NIH grants.

CWRU ranked in the top 30 in 2025 for total medical research.

https://brimr.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SchoolOfMedicine_2025.xlsx

In the end, knowing this stuff isn't about sitting in on budget meetings.

It's simply a matter of doing the right Google searches.

It's all public record and available on open internet sources.

[WUPHF]

NIH and other medical school funding numbers are complicated with the indirect, auxiliary funding cuts and such, but I am just too busy today to elaborate.

[CNU85]

I mean, if somebody wanted to buy the campus of the University of Chicago, it'd probably make a great location for a football stadium complex...

It would certainly allow the Bears to finally put some geographical accuracy behind their nickname "Monsters of the Midway", which they inherited in the early '40s after the U of C dropped football completely and thus had no further use for the moniker. Truth is, the Bears have never played their home games anywhere near a location called "Midway", whether it's the Midway Plaisance near the southern border of the U of C's campus (which is the reason why Amos Alonzo Stagg's Maroons gridders were dubbed with that nickname in the first place) or Midway Airport in the southwestern corner of Chicago (which was named after the Battle of Midway in World War 2).

It's a great nickname, and in particular it's associated closely with the legendary defense of the 1985 Chicago Bears that won Super Bowl XX. But it's always been an awkward fit for an NFL franchise that's played its games first on the north side at Wrigley Field and then on the downtown lakefront at Soldier Field. 

Being a Vikings fan, I despise all things Bears. HAHA.. Although, a high school classmate was on that 85 Bears team.

[y_jack_lok]

Unless I'm missing something, the administration requested NIH cuts, but Congress didn't pass them. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

Congress sets the budget and the President spends it.

Basically.

All appropriations come from Congress.

The POTUS can't pay for anything without a Congressional appropriation; see Biden's attempt to pay off people's student loans without an appropriation from Congress.  Likewise, the POTUS/Exec Branch can't unilaterally cut off any funding that Congress has already appropriated; see Trump and his attempts to cut off PBS/NPR funding.

When it comes to money and taxes, it's all about Congress.

See the part I bolded above. I might be wrong about this, but aren't congressional appropriations about what money can be spent on, but not necessarily who actually gets the money. Aren't most NIH grants (and other government grants) competitive based on responses to requests for proposals? Thus the staff at NIH and at other government agencies are the ones who award grants, right? Yet, those decisions aren't necessarily immune from politics, as sometimes already approved (but not yet paid out) grant funds can be withheld for a variety of reasons, including politically motivated ones.

I will reiterate that I am not entirely certain how all this works. Also, I suspect that not all federal government spending is subject to grants in response to RFPs. In any case, just because congress has approved a vast array of appropriations across dozens of Cabinet departments/agencies, isn't a guarantee that it's all going to be spent according to the empowering legislation.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Congressional appropriations always designate the specific amounts and purposes for which money can be spent.

However, they do not ALWAYS designate the final recipient.

That said, if Congress says, xyz money is for public broadcasting, then yeah, the Exec Branch can't unilaterally cut that funding and decide to use it elsewhere.

Likewise, if Congress hasn't designated for money for a specific purpose, like paying off people's student loans, then the Exec Branch can't unilaterally decide to use federal money for that purpose.

NIH money is money designated for a specific purpose in a specific amount.  That said, the Exec Branch in recent years has come up with creative ways to try and deny its use to certain schools it has various ideological issues with, such as refusing funding to schools it has deemed insufficiently tough on anti-Semitism, or that won't dismantle DEI programs, etc.

CWRU was, at one point, on a list for that, but dealt with it by dismantling their DEI office, and taking a VERY strong stand against the SJP people that tried to camp out on and vandalize the campus after 10/7; several of those people are now facing criminal charges.

Doesn't mean CWRU won't still be targeted in that regard and be at risk for losing federal research funds, and it doesn't mean some funding might still be denied, but so far, CWRU hasn't faced quite the backlash in that regard that many other research universities have faced.

CWRU's admin has said that it will continue to maintain diverse recruitment of researchers for various research projects, so it remains to be seen if that will result in any backlash from the feds/denial of research funding.

[ADL70]

In 2025 Trump and DOGE cut NIH grans already approved by Congress.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/cost-trump-administrations-attacks-research-funding

[DagarmanSpartan]

That move has had mixed results in the courts.

The USSC allowed this admin to cut NIH funds designated for DEI, transgender, and Covid related programs, but other courts have blocked its attempts to defund other NIH funded research.