A U.S. House of Representatives Staff Report on Antisemitism, released Dec. 18, details findings in investigations of “the troubling rise of hate and extremism” in various institutions including Northwestern.
The report criticized University President Michael Schill’s testimony before Congress last May, arguing that Schill “appears to have misled Congress.”
“At best, President Schill’s testimony lacked candor and is unbecoming of a university president; at worst Schill’s testimony was false and met the criteria of a federal crime,” the report stated.
In particular, the report claimed that Schill “actively entertained the request” to hire an “anti-Zionist rabbi,” with language in the Deering Meadow agreement “facilitating such hire.”
A University spokesperson told The Daily that while the University engages students in the hiring process of campus religious figures by inviting them to join search committees, the hiring decisions are “made at the University divisional and unit level.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) first initiated this investigation last April as a House-wide crackdown on antisemitism, specifically on college campuses due to the increase of pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitic incidents.
The 42-page document recommends increased oversight over American universities, including NU, from the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies. It also offers guidelines to the Republican Party on what legislation to pursue during this Congressional session.
The report was a collaboration between six Republican-led House committees, including Education and the Workforce, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, Ways and Means, Veterans’ Affairs and Oversight.
It echoed the sentiments of the Education and Workforce Committee’s 325-page report that came out in October and revealed NU administration’s internal communications during the Deering Meadow negotiations last April.
The report stated that the Education and Workforce Committee’s investigation was “unprecedented in depth and scope.” It included issuing subpoenas for the first time in the Committee’s 157-year history from universities who failed to satisfy the Committee’s demands.
The Committee claimed that students who established encampments in violation of university policies “were granted shocking concessions.” The report claimed that university officials failed to clear these encampments in a timely manner and instead negotiated, which the report said resulted in the appeasement of encampment organizers with “appalling concessions.”
The report restated the claim that NU put “anti-Israel faculty” in charge of negotiations to end the encampment on Deering Meadow, leading these faculty members to abuse their positions to support the encampment organizers’ efforts.
The Committee also claimed that the Deering Meadow agreement contains a provision for implementing a boycott of Israeli products through a line in the agreement that states: “The University will include students in a process dedicated to implementing broad input on University dining services, including residential and retail vendors on campus.”
“As part of the University’s efforts to ensure broad input on dining services, more than 20 students serve on a Dining Advisory Board that meets regularly to evaluate residential and retail dining. Individual meetings were also held with the Muslim-cultural Students Association and Associated Student Government to gather input on our Halal dining program,” a University spokesperson told The Daily.
The Committee went on to claim that disciplinary information, produced by NU and 10 other universities revealed that universities “failed to enforce their rules and impose discipline in response to antisemitic conduct violations, encouraging future transgression.”
“Despite numerous antisemitic incidents, NU placed only seven students on disciplinary probation and issued a warning to one student. Not a single NU student faced disciplinary sanctions for the unlawful encampment, despite multiple incidents in which Jewish students experienced grotesque harassment,” the report stated.
The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs stated in the report that Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) sent a letter to Governor JB Pritzker in July 2024. Bost raised concerns about the safety and treatment of Jewish veteran students due to NU’s “F” rating from the Anti-Defamation League’s campus anti-semitism report card.
The Committee also stated that the University improved resources for law enforcement and increased patrols in areas significant to NU’s Jewish community.
“The University added mobile patrols to provide enhanced security presence and an additional layer of vigilance around campus, including religious and cultural centers and large-scale athletic and community special events,” a University spokesperson said. “To further enhance campus safety, the University recruited additional campus police officers, hired armed security contractors, and increased CCTV coverage for high-activity areas.”
The report stated that NU planned to hire an additional investigator in the Office of Community Standards whose role will be to investigate alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct. A University spokesperson confirmed that the University has successfully hired a second assistant director of community standards.
NU implemented some educational and training initiatives aimed to improve “the community’s ability to engage in difficult conversations constructively and respectfully,” included at the Center for Enlightened Disagreement, the report stated.
“It’s our intent to take this report, its recommendations and act,” Johnson said in a news release announcing the report on Dec. 19.
This story has been updated to include comments from a University Spokesperson.
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