‘Reprehensible and dangerous’: Jewish groups slam Northwestern University for deal with activists

An Illinois university that became the first in the country to make an agreement with students protesting the Israel-Hamas war is facing backlash from students who have filed a lawsuit and Jewish groups calling for the ouster of the school president. 

Students at Northwestern University, north of Chicago, joined others nationwide on April 25 in setting up an encampment on school grounds to demand the administration divest from Israel. After four days, administrators relented, striking a deal that student activists called a victory.

The deal allowed students to request information on school investments and guaranteed financial support for some new Palestinian faculty and students. In return, students scaled back their encampment.

But critics say the deal never should have been allowed. 

Students whose names were not divulged in court papers due to concerns for their safety filed the lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County Wednesday, alleging the university breached its contract with students by failing to ensure their safety and freedom from discrimination.

“The events of the past week laid bare Northwestern’s gross breach of these promises,” the lawsuit says. “Northwestern ignored those rules, opting instead to facilitate, encourage, and coddle a dystopic cesspool of hate.”

The lawsuit, brought by two graduate students and an undergraduate, aims to be a class action suit for Jewish students who didn’t participate in the encampment, according to the filing.

The Midwest chapter of the Anti-Defamation League and two other Jewish organizations called the deal “reprehensible and dangerous” in a press release Tuesday calling for the resignation of President Michael Schill. 

A university spokesperson said it does not comment on pending litigation, but in a video announcing the agreement Schill was “proud” the university had achieved “what has been a challenge across the country— a sustainable de-escalated path forward, one that prioritizes safety, safety for all of our students,” he said, adding it was safe both Jewish and Muslim students.

“This agreement reduces the risk of escalation we have seen at so many of our peer institutions,” he said.

Other universities have found themselves in the spotlight for their handling of encampments.

Hours after Schill announced the agreement, Columbia University and City College administrators sicced New York police on students Tuesday and counterprotesters attacked an encampment at UCLA on the West Coast.

The Northwestern agreement allows students to protest until June 1 as long as they comply with school policies.

Was there antisemitism?

Protesters at the Northwestern encampment have not followed school rules, the lawsuit says, alleging the encampment was rife with antisemitism.

Demonstrators were “openly glorifying Hamas” — the terrorist group behind the Oct. 7 attacks that launched the Israel-Hamas war — the lawsuit says; one protester demanded passersby say whether they speak Hebrew; a protest sign showed Schill, who is Jewish, with devil horns, an antisemitic trope; and another sign showed a crossed-out Star of David.

The ADL, along with the StandWithUs and the Louis D. Brandeis Center, said antisemitism was rising on campus before the encampment and slammed Schill.

“Their goal was not to find peace, but to make Jewish students feel unsafe on campus,” they said of the protesters. “Rather than hold them accountable – as he pledged he would – President Schill gave them a seat at the table and normalized their hatred against Jewish students.”

Schill condemned the antisemitic signs in the video.

“Some slogans and expressions are subject to interpretation but when I see a Star of David with an X on it, when I see a picture of me with horns or when I hear that one of our students has been called a dirty Jew, there is no ambiguity. This needs to be condemned by all of us,” he said.

Dig deeper: What does it mean to be antisemitic?

Not all Jewish students felt threatened by the encampment. The local chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace organization helped organize it, and on the first evening, students celebrated a Seder. 

Mayán Alvarado Goldberg, a Northwestern undergraduate who is Jewish, told USA TODAY on the first day of the encampment that protesting was in fact a demonstration of her faith. 

“A lot of my Jewish identity is politically-oriented,” said the 22-year-old, whose sister was also participating in a protest in California. “It’s about putting yourself on the line for others, for those being treated worse.”

Debated around the country

There have been numerous instances of antisemitism recorded on campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, prompting the U.S. House of Representatives to approve legislation Wednesday that attempts to enshrine a single definition of antisemitism to decide when it constitutes an illegal and discriminatory act.

President Joe Biden weighed in Thursday, condemning antisemitism while defending the right for pro-Palestinian protesters to peacefully demonstrate in his first public address on this week's unrest on college campuses.

Northwestern wasn’t the only school to make an agreement with student activists. The Brown University corporation in Rhode Island agreed to vote on a divestment measure in October in exchange for students clearing the encampment Wednesday.  

A university spokesperson said the school had not been served with any lawsuit regarding its agreement with students.