The House Committee on Education and Workforce criticized Northwestern for “indications” that it used federal funds to support an alleged antisemitic group in a letter sent Thursday.
The letter condemns the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic at the Pritzker School of Law for giving free legal representation to organizers of a pro-Palestinian highway blockade to O’Hare International Airport last April.
The document attacks NU, which receives billions of dollars in federal funds, according to the letter, for devoting its resources to supporting “illegal, antisemitic conduct.”
In a statement to The Daily, a University spokesperson said Pritzker accepts a variety of cases across the political spectrum and also recently began a collaboration with the Center for Legal Innovation at the Brandeis Center to fight antisemitism.
“Like law schools across the country, our legal clinic provides valuable learning experience for students and accepts cases ranging across the political and legal spectrum including this case as well as representing January 6 protesters,” a University spokesperson told The Daily in an email. “Cases that the clinic chooses to take on do not necessarily reflect the views of the University or its law school.”
The document claims the representation of these organizers raises wider issues about the “institutionalization of left-wing political activism” at Pritzker. The letter cites a Pritzker class focused on “creating a more just Chicago,” which allows students to receive academic credit — with the support of federal student aid — as another example of this political advocacy.
The letter alleges these issues are particularly concerning due to NU’s “lengthy pattern of permissiveness and support for antisemitic conduct,” echoing the Committee’s sentiments from a report released last October.
The Committee addressed the letter to University President Michael Schill and Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris. It requires the University to produce documents relating to the policies, procedures, budget and funding of NU’s legal clinics by noon on April 10.
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