For legal studies Prof. Shana Bernstein, part of being Jewish is a shared belief across religious, ethnic and political divides in the importance of debate, inquiry and disagreement.
However, the Trump administration’s recent actions undermine these values, she said.
As the federal government escalates its attempts to combat antisemitism on college campuses — including freezing $790 million in funding for Northwestern last week — several Jewish NU professors said the Trump administration is using antisemitism to justify broader punishments against universities.
A group of faculty, staff and students from more than two dozen Boston-area colleges and universities published a letter March 11 titled “Not In Our Name.” The letter denounces the Trump administration’s attacks on universities while also calling on university leaders to “embrace the diversity of Jewish voices” and “resist any other effort to politicize Jewish identity.”
The letter now has more than 3,300 signatures from across the country — 25 of whom are NU students, faculty and staff.
As NU faces an impending visit from the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, McCormick Prof. Michael Peshkin, who signed the letter, said he thinks the federal government is not sincere in its attempts to combat antisemitism.
“They are looking for compliance,” Peshkin said. “They do not care about antisemitism, so I do not welcome their presence here at all.”
Bernstein, who also signed the letter, said its language gives Jewish people — no matter their beliefs on Israel and Palestine — the opportunity to decry what she described as the “cynical use of purported antisemitism to violate the rights and due process” of other people.
Drawing from her academic background on 20th-century United States history, Bernstein said the Trump administration’s actions are part of a “long tradition” in American history where people in power weaponize differences to divide groups based on ethnicity, religion, politics and other means.
Religious studies Prof. Barry Wimpfheimer said he doesn’t see a connection between the federal government’s punishments and the allegations of antisemitism at NU.
“It has nothing to do with the kinds of experiences that students were complaining about on American campuses,” Wimpfheimer said. “I don’t see how any of those student experiences are positively affected by a specific withholding of funding.”
Wimpfheimer said the federal government’s actions put Jews in a “terrible bind.” While there were “troubling” aspects of many universities’ responses to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, he said, the “erosion of civil liberties” will not benefit Jewish people.
He also said that by connecting the funding freeze to antisemitism, Trump has protected himself from potential repercussions.
“Whenever the blowback happens, and blowback will happen invariably, (Trump) can shift responsibility for it to the Jews, putting the Jews in their typical scapegoat role, which is really scary,” Wimpfheimer said.
Wimpfheimer said he thinks universities have a collective action problem and wishes they would stand up together for freedom of speech and research. However, he also said he understands why administrators are struggling with the current situation, and thinks “a combination of empathy and humility” is missing from conversations surrounding university responses to the Trump administration’s actions.
Bernstein said if the Trump administration was serious about helping universities fight antisemitism, it would support educational efforts to teach about antisemitism instead of cutting funding.
“I’d like to see a little more actual thinking about what antisemitism is, because it’s real,” Bernstein said. “It’s real all across the political spectrum, I think, but these cynical attempts to fix it are going to do the opposite.”
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Related Stories:
— The Daily Explains: Where Northwestern stands in federal antisemitism investigations
— Federal government freezes $790 million in funding for Northwestern
