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northwestern university
Jewish Organizers Slam GOP Antisemitism Hearing as 'Offensive and Dangerous'
"These hearings are designed to stoke divisions so that we forget who is actually unsafe—the students of Gaza where every university has been destroyed," said one Jewish student who protested at UCLA.
May 23, 2024
As U.S. House Republicans held yet another hearing about antisemitism and higher education on Thursday, Jewish students and advocacy groups aimed to set the record straight on the threats they face and the largely peaceful protests against genocide.
"This hearing has nothing to do with keeping Jewish students on campus safe, and is solely designed as part of a broader campaign to silence anti-war activism and dissent on college campuses," declared Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action. "MAGA Republicans are merging attempts to censor students and faculty speaking out for Palestinian rights with a broader culture war campaign against [diversity, equity, and inclusion], critical race theory, LGBTQ rights, and more."
Since Israel launched its U.S.-backed assault of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas-led October 7 attack, students and faculty—many of them Jewish—have held demonstrations and set up encampments across the country, demanding that their colleges and universities divest from what critics call a genocidal war against Palestinians.
In addition to enduring violent crackdowns by law enforcement called in by administrators, campus protesters have faced consequences including suspension, expulsion, and not being allowed to graduate—as was the case for 13 seniors at Harvard University, which sparked a commencement walkout by hundreds of students on Thursday.
"I felt completely safe in the encampment until we were attacked by pro-genocide counterprotesters and the police."
The GOP-controlled House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on antisemitism and colleges in November—after which House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) hosted one December, another last month, and a third on Thursday.
The latest hearing featured testimony from Gene Block, chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles; Jonathan Holloway, president of Rutgers University; Michael Schill, president of Northwestern University; and Frederick M. Lawrence, secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
After students were injured and arrested when Los Angeles police in riot gear attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA early this month, Graeme Blair, an associate professor of political science and member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said that "their blood is on Gene Block and the UC administration's hands."
Benjamin Kersten, a JVP member pursuing a Ph.D. in Jewish art history, said Thursday that "I am a Jewish student at UCLA who proudly participated in the protest calling on our university to divest from genocide. I felt completely safe in the encampment until we were attacked by pro-genocide counterprotesters and the police. These hearings are designed to stoke divisions so that we forget who is actually unsafe—the students of Gaza where every university has been destroyed."
CNNreported that during Thursday's hearing, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) took aim at her Republican colleagues.
"Instead of using these hearings for political bullying purposes, which is what the majority seems to do—and if you want to be embarrassed about something, perhaps be embarrassed about the fact that this majority has not been able to govern in this cycle without being
saved by Democrats—I for one am interested in hearing and learning about what successful negotiation and de-escalation looks like in the context of protecting students and free speech," Jayapal said.
Unlike UCLA, Northwestern and Rutgers ended their encampments through negotiations with student protesters. According toThe Associated Press, while Foxx said, "Mr. Schill and Dr. Holloway, you should be doubly ashamed for capitulating to the antisemitic rule breakers," the Northwestern president explained that "the police solution was not going to be available to us to keep people safe, and also may not be the wisest solution as we've seen at other campuses across the country."
Paz Baum, a JVP member set to graduate from Northwestern next year, said that "I joined the protests calling out Northwestern's complicity in the Israeli military's destruction of Gaza because as the descendant of people who fled genocide I understand that never again must mean never again for anyone."
"Despite attacks from counterprotests and condemnation from Congress, I will keep calling for an end to genocide," Baum added. "It is what Jewish tradition requires of me."
As of Thursday, Israel's assault on Gaza has killed at least 35,800 people and injured another 80,011, according to Palestinian officials. The war has also devastated civilian infrastructure and left survivors—many displaced multiple times over the past seven months—struggling to find food, water, and medical care.
The International Court of Justice has taken up a South Africa-led genocide case against Israel and International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif.
As the international community and some progressive U.S. political leaders have increasingly expressed alarm about the war and accused Israel of genocide, many other politicians in the United States—across party lines—have backed Netanyahu's assault on Gaza, including with billions of dollars in military support. They have also repeatedly conflated antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government, despite Jewish Americans' objections.
"It is offensive and dangerous that right-wing Republicans are putting on a show hearing under the pretense of protecting Jewish safety when in fact the only thing they are protecting are the profits of weapons companies and ongoing U.S. complicity in Israeli war crimes," JVP executive director Stefanie Fox said Thursday.
She argued that "Congress is using these hearings to distract from the very point of the principled anti-genocide student movement: The U.S. and Israeli governments continue this genocide despite mass opposition."
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Northwestern University’s Guide to Quashing Community Dissent in 3 Acts
From a professed desire for transparency surrounding a new stadium project, Northwestern has moved all the way to a surreptitious assault on free speech.
Jul 31, 2023
The problem began as a vanity project for one of the school’s largest donors. Along with his family, billionaire and Aon founder Patrick G. Ryan pledged $480 million to the university—provided that a big chunk went toward a new $800-million football stadium.
But the site’s main purpose had nothing to do with football. It would be a for-profit, open-air outdoor performance venue competing with the Chicago area’s largest, including the United Center (seating capacity 23,500; home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks). The arena would seat 28,500 concertgoers and replace the existing stadium in the midst of a residential community with schools, parks, playgrounds, churches, a fire station, and a hospital with a Level 1 trauma center.
In the past, Northwestern University (NU) has tried and failed to get zoning changes and special use permits for large concerts at the current stadium. The city of Evanston would have none of it.
Northwestern wanted this time to be different.
Act I
First, the university tried to co-opt potential voices of dissent. While developing plans for the stadium, it formed a working group consisting of four NU representatives with key leadership roles in the project, four residents from the neighborhood surrounding the stadium, and the Evanston city council member representing the district where the current stadium is located. A resident member later described Northwestern’s promises to that working group:
At our first meeting, it was agreed that this would be an informal and transparent way for Northwestern to listen and solicit input from the surrounding community regarding the stadium rebuild project.
The university described the group as a “key stakeholder” and “expressed its hopes that this forum would be the beginning of an effort to rebuild trust with community residents.”
From March through June 2022, residents in the working group canvassed neighbors and reported concerns. Among the most important: Neighbors did not want the use of the stadium expanded.
Residents thought Northwestern was listening to them—until the university announced that it had completed a single stadium design concept that contemplated pop/rock concerts. The residents in the working group didn’t see it until September 28, 2022, when Northwestern announced the plan to the world.
Act II
The working group died, but it had served a useful purpose for the university. The canvassing had revealed residents’ widespread concerns about expanding the stadium, so Northwestern tried to obfuscate them.
In early January 2023, the university hired a consultant to conduct a telephone poll of 500 registered Evanston voters. A slight majority—56%—answered yes to this loaded question:
As you may know, Northwestern has proposed a plan to replace the existing Ryan Field with a new stadium with significantly less seating and that is environmentally sustainable and accessible. Do you support or oppose removing Ryan Field and replacing it with a new stadium in the same location?
Without providing any information about the challenges that rock concerts pose—dangerous sound transmission, traffic congestion, transportation complexities or parking problems—phone interviewers asked the 500 respondents what the “right number of concerts per year” would be. This time, unlike the exhaustive canvassing that the working group had performed, Northwestern got the answer it wanted: numbers greater than zero.
Mission Accomplished. Northwestern now had its disingenuous talking point on the biggest obstacle facing the plan.
But it didn’t stick. Facts about the project and doubts about Northwestern’s false assurances became clearer. Grassroots opposition grew. Voices of dissent got louder.
Act III
So the next scene in this saga took a bizarre twist. Under a 19-year-old consent decree that settled a case Northwestern had brought against the city, the parties had established a “town-gown” committee to discuss the university’s plans for certain areas of the campus, including one of the Ryan Field parking lots.
But the public committee hearings had now become a forum for residents to register their complaints about the new stadium. More importantly, the media—even Northwestern’s student newspaper—was covering them.
So unbeknownst to residents and Evanston city council members who opposed the plan, the city asked a federal judge to modify the decree to protect Northwestern. Remarkably, it wanted to ban residents from discussing the proposed arena in the town-gown committee hearings.
Stunning as it seemed, even before the first zoning commission hearing on the university’s unprecedented request to amend the ordinance, Evanston had aligned itself with Northwestern—in secret.
On June 29, 2023, Northwestern and the city filed a joint brief supporting the ban.Stunning as it seemed, even before the first zoning commission hearing on the university’s unprecedented request to amend the ordinance, Evanston had aligned itself with Northwestern—in secret.
The Reckoning
The scandal came to light in response to an Evanston resident’s FOIA request. Facing criticism for his failure to notify Evanston’s city council of the action, the city’s corporation counsel later said that his department had determined that he did not need its approval.
So who approved it? All lawyers act at the direction of their clients. The corporation counsel reports to the city manager. Did the city manager authorize the filing? The city manager reports to Evanston’s mayor and city council. What did they know, and when did they know it?
On July 23, the Chicago Tribune broke the story: “Evanston residents angry about legal move by city to bypass public discussion on Northwestern stadium project.” The following morning, it appeared on the front page of the newspaper’s print edition.
On July 25, Northwestern and the city of Evanston lost in court.
“I have crystal clear contractual language, and you all are asking me to read in this limitation,” U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Maldonado said while denying the motion. “No one put this in there, no one limited the discussion of the committee…”
From a professed desire for transparency, Northwestern has moved all the way to a surreptitious assault on free speech. Apparently, it has allies in Evanston’s city government willing to do its bidding.
The scandals at the university—and now Evanston’s city government—aren’t over. Not by a long shot.
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How Wealth Inequality Is Subverting Higher Education at Northwestern
The problem of wealth inequality in higher education transcends the favored treatment that many admissions officers give alumni donors; well-heeled contributors pursuing personal agendas can place the very soul of an institution at risk.
Jul 11, 2023
With the Supreme Court’s dismantling of affirmative action, legacy admissions are now the hot topic in higher education. But the impact of wealth inequality transcends the preference that many admissions officers give well-heeled donors. When a university allows benefactors with large fortunes to pursue personal agendas, the educational mission itself becomes a casualty.
My alma mater, Northwestern University (NU), is a poster child for the phenomenon.
To be clear, my wife and I have been dedicated Northwestern alumni for decades. We met there as undergraduates and both obtained advanced degrees. Over the years, we have made substantial contributions that helped to create scholarships, fund a lecture series, and endow a professorship.
When a good friend of many years goes astray, silence is not an option.
My wife and I have also taught there. I was an adjunct professor in the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences (WCAS) and in the Pritzker School of Law; she was a clinic director and lecturer. I’ve served on several NU committees and was the keynote speaker for the 2010 WCAS Convocation ceremony. My wife and I chaired our respective reunion committees. We bleed NU purple.
But when a good friend of many years goes astray, silence is not an option.
Educational Mission? What’s That?
Like most institutions of higher education, Northwestern has a “Mission Statement”:
“Northwestern is committed to excellent teaching, innovative research, and the personal and intellectual growth of its students in a diverse academic community.”
But NU is allowing a donor with deep pockets to subvert that mission. Catering to the whims of a single alumnus with big bucks, the university is now seeking to build an $800 million outdoor performance venue in the midst of a quiet suburban Chicago residential community. The project makes a mockery of NU’s Mission Statement.
Why is it happening? Because a single wealthy donor wants it.
NU’s project seeks to attract top pop/rock concerts that would perform from late spring through early fall. Its proposal acknowledges that most students would be away when the concerts occurred. Only incidentally would the proposed stadium also host a handful of college football games. [Full disclosure: We live a few blocks away from the current football stadium, which the proposed venue would replace.]
- With a concert seating capacity of 28,500, NU hopes to compete with top Chicago-area venues—including the United Center (the home of the Bulls and the Blackhawks; seating capacity: 23,500) and Allstate Arena in Rosemont (where the Chicago Wolves hockey team plays all of its home games; seating capacity: 18,500).
- In addition to 10 mega concerts throughout the summer, NU seeks permission from the City of Evanston to hold an unlimited number of events with a seating capacity of 10,000 fans—a formidable crowd.
How does the project square with Northwestern’s “Mission Statement”? It doesn’t.
Why is it happening? Because a single wealthy donor wants it: Patrick Ryan (B.A, ’59), who played football at Northwestern, founded AON Corp., and—along with Justice Clarence Thomas—is a member of the recently newsworthy and elite Horatio Alger Association. Ryan and his family have donated $480 million dollars to help cover the cost of the new state-of-the-art open-air stadium.
You might ask, “What’s the big deal? NU gets a new stadium.”
But Ryan’s contribution won’t come close to covering the total cost of the project. The remaining balance—hundreds of millions of dollars—will come from Northwestern University funds that could actually have been used for purposes that are consistent with its Mission Statement.
Therein lies the insidious subversion of the university’s stated mission.
University “Values”? What Are Those?
Northwestern also has a “Statement of Values”:
- “Commitment to faculty, and to excellence in research, scholarship, creative work, and teaching
- “Commitment to student experience
- “Commitment to balancing Northwestern’s present and future needs
- “Commitment to diversity and inclusion”
How is the proposed entertainment venue consistent with those espoused values? About as well as it serves NU’s stated mission.
Students won’t even be on campus for the summer pop/rock concerts. A concert venue does not contribute to faculty excellence. Apart from NU’s unenforceable promise to “work with minority- and women-owned business enterprises as part of the construction,” it does nothing to promote diversity or inclusion. It is, instead, a donor’s vanity project and a proposed profit center for a non-profit university.
What’s Next?
The City of Evanston has not yet approved NU’s proposal. The plan has encountered serious opposition from the community because the adverse impact on the neighborhood—which has no buffer zone separating it from the stadium—would be profound:
- Dangerous and disruptive noise pollution would blanket what has been a quiet residential area that includes schools, playgrounds, parks, churches, and a hospital with a Level 1 trauma center.
- A series of pop/rock concerts requiring “load in,” “set up,” “tear down,” and “load out” would create a summer of endless construction projects. Above is a video of the seven-day “load in” for a Rammstein concert in Dresden—a comparably-sized outdoor performance venue.
- Northwestern has yet to develop a comprehensive transportation management plan to handle the unprecedented traffic, congestion, and parking burdens on the community that the venue would create.
- The construction period alone would take years, starting with demolition that NU estimates would result in 70,000 tons of demolished material.
Sustainability? Climate concerns? The list of open questions about what NU economists would call externalities goes on and on, but Northwestern is urging a fast track toward approval.
As the battle continues, Northwestern has all the weapons of wealth: a massive endowment ($14-15 billion); a big law firm pushing the project forward (DLA Piper); the ability to dangle potential revenue dollars that tempt a city needing them; and a cynical willingness to divide the community along racial and socioeconomic lines.
Will grassroots objections from residents who have the most at stake prevail over such a mighty adversary?
As summer turns to fall and NU tries to rush its project through the approval process, we’ll all find out.
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