As a Northwestern alum, I was heartened to see that about 200 students and other NU-affiliated individuals were able to gather for a vigil on Oct. 7 without incident. This allowed the group to commemorate the first anniversary of the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, to honor the lives of the more than 1,200 victims murdered that day and to call for the release of the more than 100 hostages currently held in Gaza.
I was also pleased to see NU’s Vice President for Global Marketing and Communications Jon Yates announce that NU will investigate the individuals who participated in an Oct. 7 demonstration at The Rock that violated University policy.
But that promise reflects an embarrassingly low bar. In fact, I am struggling to understand NU’s failure to shut down the event prior to Oct. 7 or even while it was taking place.
NU’s branch of Students for Justice in Palestine — which Dean of Students Mona Dugo told a concerned parent is not an official NU student organization — began posting flyers the week before Oct. 7 to announce the upcoming event at The Rock at 1 p.m. (earlier than the permitted 3 p.m. start time established by an April 2024 addendum to NU’s protest policy).
So which is it? Is SJP a student organization or not? If it is, NU should have informed the group it would not be permitted to gather at that place and time. If it is not, the group should not be permitted to gather on campus at any point in time.
According to an Oct. 14 Instagram post by NU SJP, “at least five students” received “vague emails from the Office of Community Standards about an investigation into their alleged participation in the walkout.” If about 100 individuals participated in the walkout, that means that, to our knowledge, only 5% have been identified – and contacted – so far.
How do Yates and the administration at large plan to hold participants to account? Why did NU not direct its handful of event support team staff at the event to request identification from participants, each of which covered their face with a mask or keffiyeh, at the gathering? Why did NU not empower these staff members to disperse the crowd?
Assuming Dugo was incorrect in her assertion and NU SJP is an official and permitted student organization, why? Multiple universities, including Columbia University, have sanctioned or banned campus chapters of SJP for disruptive behavior and open support of terrorism, both of which, in my opinion, were on display at the Oct. 7 protest at The Rock.
Scheduling this event on the anniversary of Oct. 7 suggested to me they were celebrating the massacre of Jews and their allies, and this was borne out by the participants’ speech and actions.
Their chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” imply they want the eradication of the one Jewish state in the world. Their chants of “Resistance is justified!” give carte blanche to rapists, murderers and their enablers.
It is obvious from the words on their signs. I want to break down a few statements on signs line by line:
“Glory to the martyrs” means “Good job, terrorists who died committing acts of terrorism!” “Freedom for the prisoners” means “Terrorists who maim and kill Jews, Israelis and ‘collaborators’ should not face consequences.” “Disgrace on the traitors” means “’Collaborators’ (i.e., non-Jews who support or cooperate with Jews and Israel) are despicable.”
Considering the non-Jewish Israelis and non-Jews of other nationalities who were murdered and kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, I think it would be reasonable to interpret this last statement as condemning such “traitors” to death.
These are the euphemisms terrorists and their supporters use. They have no place on NU’s campus. And yet, I have heard nothing from NU about banning SJP from campus, about whether it is an approved student organization, nor about preventing or breaking up an event designed to incite hate.
NU has already failed its whole community and sullied its international reputation by enabling encampments to continue with minimal consequences last year. University President Michael Schill then compounded the damage by doubling down on his decisions in a May 2024 Congressional hearing. If Schill wants to demonstrate his commitment to the majority of NU students, parents and alumni who do not support terrorism, the time is now.
Seyma Albarino (Medill 2012) is an NU alum. She can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
