Northwestern released its 2026 football season schedule on Tuesday, and the venues of the home games were notably missing. 

“Exciting information pertaining to Northwestern's home venues for 2026 will be announced on February 3,” the news release read. Observant readers will notice the university said “venues,” plural. 

When The Purple Wire asked the university if Ryan Field would be ready in time for the season, a university spokesperson told us the same thing — to look out for a venue announcement on Feb. 3. 

Your hosts have recently learned that there have been conversations swirling about the possibility of games still being played at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, likely in a non-conference game at the start of the season. 

This might mean that Ryan Field will not be ready to kick off the season, when Northwestern is set to face two non-conference rivals. 

Northwestern’s home opener is against South Dakota State University on Sept. 5, followed by a high-profile matchup against Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes on Sept. 19.

Who knows, Northwestern might save its opening day at Ryan Field for its game against Penn State on Oct. 3.

Pritzker Prof. Zachary Clopton has been named the dean of the Pritzker School of Law after six months serving in an interim capacity, Northwestern announced Thursday.

Clopton succeeds Hari Osofsky, who announced in May that she would step down from her role to lead two Pritzker initiatives.

Before her departure, Osofsky’s term, which began in 2021, had been mired in high staff turnover and allegations of mismanagement under her leadership. The Office of the Provost initiated a review of Osofsky’s tenure for potential reappointment last academic year.

In November, University Provost Kathleen Hagerty named a Dean Transition Advisory Committee to collect community input to decide on the law school’s next dean.

By then, Clopton was called upon to temporarily replace Osofsky.

After joining Pritzker in 2019, Clopton served as a law professor before becoming Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life.

“Zach Clopton is a nationally recognized scholar in civil litigation who also has demonstrated himself to be a strong and steady leader, facilitating an environment that is collaborative, strategic, and results-oriented,” Hagerty said in a Thursday news release.

Clopton also clerked in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago.

The combination of attacks on affirmative action, the Trump administration’s new travel ban and the university’s agreement with the federal government have put international student admissions in a precarious position. 

At last week’s Faculty Senate meeting, Philosophy Prof. Mark Alznauer asked Provost Kathleen Hagerty a question on the top of everyone’s mind: how the increased scrutiny will impact international student admissions. 

“There’s more challenges associated with those students now, but we still admit international students,” Hagerty said. “It is more challenging, and, you know, if they can’t come in, it’s hard to admit them.” 

Hagerty said international students have “never been a really big part of the undergraduate program,” though they consistently make up 10% of undergraduates. About 13% of students in the class of 2028 are international students. 

International students, however, are a larger part of the graduate program, Hagerty said. About 48% of students entering Northwestern’s Ph.D. programs in fiscal year 2026 were international students, according to the presentation at Faculty Senate.

Hagerty also mentioned that there are no longer scholarships available specifically for international students. It’s unclear when this change occurred, but it aligns closely with a clause in Northwestern’s agreement with the federal government that promised to ensure “protected characteristics” are not the basis of financial aid awards, as well as the discontinuation of race- or ethnicity-based scholarships.

With Northwestern unable to sponsor their student visas, the university will likely see a decline in applicants from the impacted countries, including Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and a handful of others. 

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