The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has requested that Michael Schill, the president of Northwestern University, sit down for a “transcribed interview about steps being taken to combat the antisemitic threats and harassment occurring” on campus.
“The committee seeks to understand both this disturbing climate of antisemitism at Northwestern as well as the University’s apparent failure to protect Jewish students,” stated the letter sent by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chairman of the committee, on Monday.
The letter also raised questions about whether Northwestern had taken sufficient steps to address hatred since Schill and leaders from other universities appeared at a congressional hearing in May 2024.
“Since your testimony at the committee’s May 23, 2024, hearing, despite Northwestern’s claims to the contrary, the committee has not seen your commitments to discipline, enforcement and security come to satisfactory fruition,” stated the letter.
Walberg then highlighted multiple incidents of reported antisemitism, including Jewish students being harassed and stalked, spat on for wearing a yarmulke, and being told to “go back to Germany and get gassed.” Another instance included several buildings being vandalized during Passover with what the university described as “antisemitic slogans and hate-filled language.”
“It remains unclear whether any students or faculty have been meaningfully disciplined in response to the repeated incidents of antisemitism at Northwestern, including the harassment and violence against Jewish students at Northwestern’s 2024 encampment,” the letter continued.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration froze roughly $790 million in federal funding to Northwestern.
Steven Thrasher, an associate professor of journalism who participated in the encampments at Northwestern in April 2024 and compared Israel to the Nazis, said he has been denied tenure and will not have his position renewed.
