Medill Prof. Steven Thrasher faces investigation from Northwestern after his involvement in the pro-Palestine encampment on campus in April, and his Fall Quarter classes have been canceled, Medill officials confirmed.
Thrasher said he learned about his class cancellations from students days after Cook County prosecutors dropped misdemeanor charges against him in July for his participation in the encampment, along with two other faculty members and a graduate student at NU.
The charges stemmed from their alleged obstruction of an officer while forming a protective line between campus police and student protesters on Deering Meadow.
According to Thrasher, the University informed him that it would investigate his use of social media, his “objectivity” and other complaints made against him.
“My position is all this flows for my position on Palestine and also because I stepped between the Northwestern University police and the (encampment) protesters,” Thrasher said.
Thrasher said he had already contacted guest speakers, field trip tour guides and a grading assistant — most of whom are NU alumni — for his Fall Quarter classes.
“All those people also lost the work that I was going to pay them for the class, and that was a real harm to former students,” Thrasher said.
Some students enrolled in Thrasher’s classes also found themselves scrambling to find substitutes after many Medill classes had already filled up.
Medill sophomore Gabe Shumway, who was enrolled in Thrasher’s Journalism 301 course on LGBTQ health reporting, said he learned about its cancellation through an email from Medill’s advising team in mid-July.
“It’s kind of throwing me in a position where I’m on the waitlist for other things, and I’m struggling to find any journalism class for next quarter,” Shumway said. “They just kind of shadow-dropped the information on me.”
Thrasher told The Daily he was not informed of NU’s accusations against him or given a chance to defend himself before the University took punitive action.
Rima Kapitan, an attorney representing Thrasher, said the University’s conduct violated basic due process and the NU Faculty Handbook, which allows for temporary suspension only when “a faculty member poses an immediate threat of harm” to themselves, others or the University.
According to Kapitan, when she and Thrasher argued NU had not met this standard, the University said teaching happens “at the discretion of the dean” and that the disciplinary actions against Thrasher do not qualify as suspension and need not follow the suspension policy.
Thrasher and Kapitan contend that teaching is a core duty of a faculty member, not a discretionary feature. Thrasher will still be paid, and plans to give lectures at the Feinberg School of Medicine and set up some form of office hours for students, he said.
University spokesperson Jon Yates declined to comment on Thrasher’s situation, stating NU could not discuss personnel matters.
Per Faculty Handbook guidelines, Thrasher will appear before a three-member ad hoc committee, who will gather and review evidence to make a recommendation to the University on whether there is cause for suspension.
“We’re confident that the committee will find he did not violate University policy and that no discipline should issue,” Kapitan said.
Thrasher is not the only faculty member who is facing disciplinary proceedings after the April encampment. NU librarian Josh Honn, a faculty member who faced misdemeanor charges alongside Thrasher, said he was asked to have an “investigative discussion” with NU Libraries leadership and an NU Human Resources representative.
The discussion and investigation focused on Honn’s conduct at the encampment, which NU Libraries leadership allege violated NU’s demonstration policy and the no-strike clause of the University’s collective bargaining agreement with the NU Library Workers Union. Honn said he did not violate either policy.
Honn said the University has given him little information about the procedure, timeline or status of the investigation following the discussion.
“These processes that the University is implementing are very vague, very opaque,” Honn said. “Even though they’re a private institution that can do what they want, it would be nice that there was more transparency and fairness in their processes.”
Kapitan, who also represents Honn, noted that though Honn and Thrasher received the same charges after the encampment, Thrasher’s disciplinary case does not mention his conduct at the demonstration.
“Professor Thrasher and Josh Honn were doing the same thing that day — they were in the same faculty line,” Kapitan said. “And clearly the University is just reaching, looking for excuses to discipline these faculty members for their political views, because the way that they’re proceeding with discipline is incoherent.”
Kapitan said she believes the University is pursuing punitive measures against faculty members due to pressure from Congress.
In May, University President Michael Schill testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce over his response to the encampment. During the hearing, U.S. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) named Thrasher as a faculty member who “blocked the police officers on your campus from doing their job” and asked if Schill would allow Thrasher to continue to teach after this “embarrassing incident.” Schill declined to comment on individual faculty and said he believed in due process.
Thrasher was also mentioned in two letters from the committee to University leadership sent on May 9 and June 7, respectively.
The first letter listed Thrasher’s actions at the encampment and his support for the demonstration on social media as examples of “crimes and antisemitic incidents” at NU. The second requested the University provide all documents and communications relating to the encampment and subsequent agreement, including those involving Thrasher.
“It’s not a surprise in the sense that the committee … has been going after Northwestern faculty, and in particular, Dr. Thrasher,” Kapitan said. “But it’s a surprise that Northwestern seems to be caving.”
Thrasher previously received criticisms from New York University leaders after expressing support for the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine Chapter and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement during a graduation speech in 2019.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the proportion of Thrasher’s guest speakers, field trip guides and grading staff who are NU alumni. The Daily regrets this error.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @joyycee_li
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @william2tong
Related Stories:
— Misdemeanor charges dropped against NU faculty for activity during pro-Palestinian encampment
— Medill Prof. Steven Thrasher speaks at ‘Northwestern Liberation Zone’ on Deering Meadow
