Northwestern University president to appear again before Congress in August
Schill will participate in an interview with the House Committee on Education & Workforce on Aug. 5, according to a Northwestern spokesperson. Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., first sent a letter to Schill to testify in April, accusing Northwestern of failing to fulfill its commitment to protect Jewish students.
Crain's Chicago Business first reported the news. The Committee on Education & Workforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Schill last appeared before Congress in spring 2024, weeks after students erected a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus as part of a nationwide movement. Schill reached a deal with protesters five days into the demonstration, allowing the encampment to continue peacefully for several weeks.
Since Schill's last testimony, Walberg said, congressional leaders have not received any documentation or updates on the university's efforts to combat antisemitism.
'The Committee seeks to understand both this disturbing climate of antisemitism at Northwestern as well as the University's apparent failure to protect Jewish students, and therefore seeks to conduct a transcribed interview with you,' Walberg wrote.
A university spokesperson disputed those claims in a statement, noting that Northwestern took 'significant steps to address antisemitism' before the 2024-25 school year. The university released a report in March that outlined those efforts, including updating the student code of conduct and creating mandatory antisemitism training.
'Reports of antisemitism on campus this academic year were down significantly, and we are confident that our actions have made Northwestern a safer and more welcoming place for everyone, including our Jewish students,' the statement said.
Northwestern is among several elite universities that have come under fire from the Trump administration for antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The federal government has frozen more than $790 million in federal funding to Northwestern amid ongoing civil rights investigations.
When Schill appeared before the House committee last year, he was grilled for hours on his handling of Northwestern's encampment. Several leaders of Ivy League schools resigned following testimony at a similar congressional hearing in late 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
22 minutes ago
- New York Post
Netanyahu lays out Gaza City incursion goals as critics warn it could turn to Israel's ‘Vietnam'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out Sunday his five goals to seize Gaza City and free it from Hamas — as he faces mounting pressure, with one world leader warning that the military incursion could turn into his own 'Vietnam.' Netanyahu called his plan to invade Gaza City 'the best way to end the war' quickly, as he laid out the five-point plan for peace. 'One, Hamas disarmed. Second, all hostages freed. Third, Gaza demilitarized. Fourth, Israel has overriding security control. And five, non-Israeli peaceful civilian administration,' the premier summarized. 5 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his decision to invade Gaza City on Sunday as the best way to end the war and free the remaining 50 hostages. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 5 Smoke rises over Gaza City on Friday after Netanyahu's cabinet cleared the way for a full military incursion to begin. AFP via Getty Images 'That's our plan. Given Hamas's refusal to lay down its arms, Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas,' Netanyahu added. Netanyahu maintains that the operation won't lead to the full military occupation of Gaza, instead, it will focus on targeting Hamas' terrorist cells stationed in Gaza City. The premier did not offer a timeline on how the military incursion would proceed, saying only that it would be done 'fairly quickly.' He likened the operation to the military takeover of the southern city of Rafah, another controversial incursion that was once tapped as the final tactic to eliminate Hamas last year, only for the terror group to re-emerge elsewhere in Gaza. 5 Israel has faced severe backlash across the world over the continued fighting in Gaza and humanitarian crisis affecting Palestinian civilians. REUTERS Experts have also expressed doubts that such an operation could be speedily resolved, with many warning that it would only indefinitely extend the war, which has raged on for nearly two years. As the United Nations holds an emergency meeting this weekend to discuss the Gaza City incursion, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani presented a stark warning to Netanyahu. 'The invasion of Gaza risks turning into a Vietnam for Israeli soldiers,' he told the daily Il Messaggero, referencing the years-long quagmire and losses in Vietnam that ended with the withdrawal of the US military. 5 Mass protests erupted in Tel Aviv on Saturday night demanding a diplomatic end to the war. AP When news of the incoming operation broke last week, Colin Clarke, a counter-terrorism expert at the New York-based Soufan Group, told The Post that the incursion would put more IDF soldiers at risk of being attacked by not only Hamas, but also by armed insurgents opposing the occupation. 'This puts the IDF under new risks, with the soldiers having to deal with regular ambushes, improvised explosions and sniper fire from an insurgency,' Clarke warned. The plan to invade Gaza City, which IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir also opposes, has also caused tens of thousands to march in the streets of Tel Aviv to oppose their government's action, calling for a cease-fire agreement in its place to free the remaining 50 hostages. 5 The families of the hostages still in Gaza fear an escalation in the war will put their loved ones at risk. Getty Images Netanyahu and his cabinet have claimed that the military operation is still the best way to free the captives, only 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. The embattled premier also faces pressure from members of his far-right coalition accusing him of falling short on the goal to take over Gaza. Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, said he has lost faith in Netanyahu's ability and desire to lead Israel to victory. With Post wires
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Netanyahu defends planned offensive in Gaza, alleges a ‘global campaign of lies'
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sought to defend a new military offensive in one of Gaza's most populated areas amid growing condemnation at home and abroad, declaring that Israel 'has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.' He spoke to foreign media minutes before an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Gaza. Notably, Netanyahu said he has directed Israel's military in recent days to 'bring in more foreign journalists' — which would be a striking development, as they haven't been allowed into the Gaza Strip beyond military embeds during 22 months of war. 'Our goal is not to occupy Gaza, our goal is to free Gaza,' Netanyahu asserted. He also decried what he called a 'global campaign of lies' — and said Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of Israel's strongest backers, had 'buckled under' by announcing that Germany until further notice won't authorize exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza. Netanyahu said there is a 'fairly short timetable' in mind for next steps in Gaza, but didn't give specifics. The goals, he said, include demilitarizing the territory, the Israeli military having 'overriding security control' there and a non-Israeli civilian administration in charge. Netanyahu again blamed many of Gaza's problems on the Hamas militant group, including civilian deaths, destruction and shortages of aid. 'Hamas still has thousands of armed terrorists in Gaza,' he asserted, adding that Palestinians are 'begging' the world to be freed from them. As authorities were reporting that two more Palestinian children had died of malnutrition-related deaths — bringing the toll in Gaza to 100 since the start of the war — the Israeli prime minister asserted that there is 'no starvation in Gaza.' He did acknowledge hunger there, however, saying that 'there was a problem with deprivation, no question about it.' Israel wants to increase the number of aid distribution sites, he said, but gave no details. Netanyahu is to speak later Sunday for the Israeli audience. At least 26 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid in Gaza, hospitals and witnesses said, as families of Israeli hostages called for a general strike to protest Netanyahu's plans to expand military operations in Gaza City. Hospital officials said they received bodies from areas where Palestinians were seeking aid, along food convoy routes or near privately run aid distribution points across Gaza. The dead included 15 killed while waiting for aid trucks close to the newly built Morag corridor that separates the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis, according to Nasser Hospital. Six others were killed while waiting for aid in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing, according to Gaza's Health Ministry and Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. In central Gaza, witnesses said they heard warning shots before the fire was aimed toward crowds of aid-seekers trying to reach a food distribution site operated by the Israeli-backed and U.S.-funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The AP could not independently confirm who fired the shots. Al-Awda Hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp said four people were killed by Israeli gunfire. 'First, it was in the air, then they started to fire at the people,' said Sayed Awda, who waited hundreds of yards from the GHF site. Six other aid-seekers were killed while trying to reach GHF sites in Khan Yunis and Rafah, Nasser Hospital said. The GHF sites opened in May as an alternative to the U.N.-run aid system, but their early operations have been marred by deaths and chaos, with aid-seekers coming under gunfire near routes leading to the sites. Responding to Associated Press inquiries, the GHF media office said: 'There were no incidents at or near our sites today and these incidents appear to be linked to crowds trying to loot aid convoy.' Israel's military said there were no incidents involving Israeli troops near central Gaza aid sites. Seven people were killed in airstrikes, local hospitals said — three people near the fisherman's port in Gaza City and four, two of them children, in a strike that hit a tent in Khan Yunis. Israel's military did not immediately comment on the strikes, but has accused Hamas of operating from civilian areas. Israel's air and ground offensive has displaced most of Gaza's population and pushed the territory toward famine. Two more Palestinian children died of malnutrition-related causes on Saturday, bringing the toll among children to 100 since the war began in October 2023. A total of 117 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June when the ministry started to count that age category, it said. The toll from hunger isn't included in the ministry's death toll of 61,400 Palestinians in the war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, doesn't distinguish between fighters or civilians in its tally, but says around half of the dead have been women and children. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Bereaved families and relatives of hostages still held in Gaza urged Israeli companies to declare a general strike this week. Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night in what local media called one of the largest antigovernment protests in recent months. The families and their supporters fear that expanding the war will endanger their loved ones. Fifty hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war remain in Gaza, with 20 of those believed to be alive. Lishay Miran-Lavi, whose husband, Omri, is among the hostages, appealed to President Trump and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff to halt the fighting. 'The decision to send the army deeper into Gaza is a danger to my husband, Omri. But we can still stop this disaster,' she said. Also Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz toured the northern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where about 40,000 Palestinians have been driven from their homes this year in the West Bank's largest displacement since Israel captured the territory in 1967. Israel says the operations are needed to stamp out militancy, as violence by all sides has surged since the war in Gaza began. Katz said the military would remain in the area's refugee camps at least until the end of the year, and said the number of warnings about attacks against Israelis in the West Bank had decreased by 80% since the operation began in January. Shurafa, Metz and Magdy write for the Associated Press and reported from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and Cairo. AP writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Netanyahu says starvation claims in Gaza are exaggerated as backlash mounts over plans for new Israeli offensive
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under pressure from all sides Sunday as his controversial plan to seize Gaza City drew backlash inside his government and on the streets of Israel, while malnutrition deaths in the Gaza Strip continued to climb. At a press conference on Sunday, a defiant Netanyahu continued to deny there is starvation in Gaza and claimed the situation is being exaggerated. Netanyahu only conceded there was 'deprivation' in Gaza, but said 'no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war' if Israel was implementing a 'starvation policy.' Netanyahu went on to defend the new military offensive, saying Israel had 'no choice' but to 'finish the job' and 'defeat Hamas,' while claiming that "hundreds of aid trucks have gone into Gaza." But his critics on the left say his proposed new military offensive is likely to worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and further endanger the hostages still being held by Hamas. Protests calling for an immediate ceasefire drew thousands of people Saturday night in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. And for some far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition government, the plan isn't tough enough. Foreign Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed for Israel to impose sovereignty over Gaza, called it a 'foolish' half-measure, saying in a video message Saturday night that he did not support it. Smotrich said the proposed offensive was intended to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire, and that instead Israel needed a 'sharp, clear path' to victory over Hamas. The dissatisfaction expressed by Smotrich, who said he had 'lost faith' in the prime minister, threatens to destabilize Netanyahu's fragile coalition. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid seized on the opportunity, calling on Smotrich to join him in advancing a bill to dissolve parliament and hold new elections. 'In your own words, you admitted that the prime minister's policy is not leading to a decisive outcome in Gaza, is not returning our hostages, and is not winning the war,' Lapid said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel. 'You also added that you can no longer stand behind the prime minister and back him up.' The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting later Sunday to discuss Israel's proposed offensive, which has been condemned by Britain, France, Australia and other Western governments. James Kariuki, the U.K.'s deputy permanent representative to the U.N., called on Israel to reverse its decision, saying the plan "will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza." It comes amid a worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, where humanitarian aid has been limited since Israel lifted a two-and-a-half-month blockade in May. The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that five more people, including two children, had died from malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 217, including 100 children. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Thursday that at least 99 people in Gaza, including 29 children under age 5, have died from malnutrition this year, noting the real toll was most likely higher. The U.N. and other international organizations say the humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza through air drops and on a small number of trucks is far from sufficient to feed the enclave's population of 2 million people. On Saturday, a 14-year-old boy named Muhannad Eid died after being struck by an aid package that was airdropped over Gaza, his brother, Muhammad Eid, said. 'This is an aerial humiliation, not aid,' Eid said. 'We need protection. We want international protection.' With the latest death, 23 people have now been killed during airdrops since the Israel-Hamas war began 22 months ago, according to the Gaza government media office. 'We have repeatedly warned of the danger of these inhumane methods and have repeatedly called for the safe and adequate entry of aid through land crossings,' it said in a statement. According to local health officials, more than 61,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel. During that attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. Of the 50 hostages still being held by Hamas, Israel believes about 20 are alive. Hostage advocates and Netanyahu's own army chief have warned that expanded military operations could put their lives in danger. The plan, which Netanyahu's government announced Friday, outlines five goals for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, taking security control of the area, and establishing 'an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.' Those preparations are expected to take weeks or months, a delay that hardliners in the Israeli government fear could leave room for a diplomatic solution that would undermine their objectives. Experts have also questioned whether the plan would protect Israelis, or work at all. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center, said the plan was full of 'hollow slogans.' 'There is a very common slogan: 'We will release the hostages and defeat Hamas at the same time,'' he said. 'You can't do both simultaneously. Hamas will execute them, or the IDF itself could in the bombing.' Netanyahu said Sunday that his goal was to get the hostages out alive and recover the remains of those had had died. "If we don't do anything, we are not going to get them out," he said. "The move I'm talking about has the possibility of getting them out." There are also questions as to who would run Gaza long term. Netanyahu said he intends to hand control of the territory to 'Arab forces,' adding Sunday that "several candidates" are being looked at for the establishment of a new "transitional authority." He has not specified who that could be, aside from saying it would not be Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. 'That leaves nobody,' said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. 'No Arab country is going to be Israel's enforcer on the ground.'
