Northwestern being investigated by US Department of Education over accusations of campus antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war
The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into accusations of antisemitism at Northwestern University, as similar allegations continue to rock colleges and universities across the country in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
A complaint against Northwestern was filed earlier this month by Zachary Marschall of Campus Reform, a Virginia-based organization that describes itself as a “conservative watchdog” that “exposes liberal bias and abuse on the nation’s college campuses.”
The education department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into Northwestern on Tuesday, according to the agency’s website. The complaint alleges that Northwestern “discriminated against students on the basis of national origin (shared Jewish ancestry) by failing to respond appropriately to incidents of harassment in October, November and December,” according to a letter from the agency posted on Campus Reform’s website.
Campus Reform’s website says the complaint cited an Instagram post from a student organization that called Hamas a “political group;” other incidents include a student vigil in which the colors of the Palestinian flag were projected on a library building and a protest urging Northwestern to divest from organizations that support Israel, where demonstrators chanted “Northwestern, you can’t hide — you’re paying for genocide,” according to the Campus Reform website.
The website also quotes the complaint as saying that Jewish students “have felt increasingly unwelcome” since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 and plunged the Middle East into a bloody ongoing war.
Northwestern officials confirmed the education department’s investigation, adding that the university intends to cooperate.
“The complaint against Northwestern was not filed by a member of our community but instead by an outside organization,” said Northwestern spokesman Jon Yates. “The Department of Education is investigating dozens of universities. Northwestern is committed to providing a safe, welcoming environment for everyone in our community.”
He added that Northwestern “does not tolerate antisemitism or discriminatory acts directed at any individual based upon their race, religion, national origin or other protected categories.”
Marschall and Campus Reform did not immediately return requests for comment. Campus Reform has filed other complaints alleging antisemitism at various other colleges and universities nationwide, including Arizona State University and Temple University. The complaints allege the universities violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination by any institution that receives federal funding.
Education department officials would not comment on the Northwestern investigation because it’s a pending complaint. In order for the Office of Civil Rights to proceed on a complaint, there must be “sufficient information to support the factual basis for the complainant’s belief that discrimination has occurred and when it occurred,” according to the office’s case resolution and investigation manual.
Northwestern President Michael Schill in November announced a new advisory committee would work to prevent antisemitism and hate on campus, adding that he’s “heard from students and parents who feel unsafe” since the Israel-Hamas war’s inception, according to a university statement.
On Tuesday, Schill announced the names of the members of the committee, which pledged in a letter to “help create the conditions for members of our community to thrive without fear of hate or violence (both physical and psychological).”
Michael Simon, executive director at Northwestern Hillel and a member of the committee, said he was aware of the investigation at Northwestern.
“There’s certainly been a rising concern among students and the broader Jewish community at Northwestern about antisemitism, both in terms of the climate on campus here as well as many other campuses and communities,” he said.
Simon said at the “baseline level,” Northwestern has a “thriving, welcomed and welcoming” Jewish community.
“But it feels that because of challenges in the climate, we are not at that baseline at this moment,” he said. “We at Hillel ... we’re committed to make sure we get back to not only that baseline but a better place.”
Simon added that he wants every student — not just Jewish students — to feel welcome at Northwestern.
Roughly 1,200 Jewish undergraduates and 1,000 Jewish graduate students attend Northwestern, according to Hillel International.
The investigation at Northwestern comes as colleges and universities across the country grapple with accusations of antisemitism, a climate that has spurred several prominent higher education leaders to recently resign under fire.
Harvard President Claudine Gay quit earlier this month amid fallout from her testimony during a heated congressional hearing on antisemitism at college campuses in December, as well as recent plagiarism accusations. A hedge fund billionaire who led calls for Gay’s removal has also urged the resignation of Penny Pritzker, head of Harvard’s governing board and sister of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, though Harvard has said she has no plans to step down.
The University of Pennsylvania’s president also quit last month after being grilled at the congressional hearing, and the chairman of the school’s board of trustees stepped down as well.
Earlier this month, a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago filed a lawsuit alleging that she faced a pattern of harassment and antisemitic discrimination there.
Shortly after the Hamas attack, an SAIC associate professor posted an antisemitic rant on social media, calling Israelis “pigs” and “savages,” and calling for them to “rot in hell.” The SAIC student’s complaint said she asked several SAIC leaders if she was safe attending school there, citing those social media posts, but the school never responded, according to one of the accusations in the lawsuit.
An SAIC official said the school could not comment on pending litigation; the official did say that associate professor is no longer employed at the school but would not give any more information, citing “personnel matters.” The SAIC associate professor had apologized for the post on social media.
The Biden administration in November addressed an “alarming” rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia at schools and colleges since the war began.
Antisemitism has surged nationwide recently, with the Anti-Defamation League counting about 300 antisemitic incidents in roughly two weeks following the Hamas attack, a 388% increase over the same period in 2022. An ADL report in November found that nearly three-quarters of Jewish college students reported seeing or experiencing some form of antisemitism since the start of the school year.
During the December congressional hearing, a professor of Jewish studies acknowledged that “voicing antisemitism is not illegal.”
“We cannot censor antisemitic speech, nor can we command everyone in our university community to support human rights,” said Pamela Nadell, director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University. “What we must do is make certain that everyone on the campus — students, faculty and staff, no matter their religious, racial, ethnic or national background — feels safe and does not encounter discrimination in any form, whether in the classroom from faculty members who single out Jewish students or from student organizations that use litmus tests requiring Jewish students to distance themselves from Israel if they wish to be members.”
