Feds launch another investigation over alleged antisemitism at Northwestern

Yahoo

14-05-2025

A second federal agency is investigating Northwestern University for alleged antisemitism.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday its Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into a 'prestigious university in the midwestern United States' for allegedly violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal funds.
The probe comes three months after the U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation of Northwestern and four other universities for 'widespread antisemitic harassment.'
While HHS' news release didn't specifically name Northwestern, Jon Yates, a university spokesperson, confirmed to the Pioneer Press that it is the target.
HHS instigated the probe following a complaint to the department's Office for Civil Rights, as stated in a news release.
HHS did not respond to a request for comment on specifics of the complaint, including who filed it and what particular incident the alleged discrimination against Jewish students took place.
'The investigation will examine whether the University complied with its obligations under Title VI not to discriminate against Jewish students, such that it denied them an educational opportunity or benefit,' HHS said in a news release.
'This action demonstrates the Administration's commitment to address 'anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools… (to address) unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence,' as expressed in President Trump's Executive Orders,' the release said
Last May, Northwestern's President Michael Schill was grilled by congressional lawmakers at a hearing about the rise of antisemitism on campus.
HHS' probe into Northwestern is the second of its kind during President Donald Trump's second term in office. In April, HHS and the Department of Education launched a Title VI investigation into Harvard University and Harvard Law Review over reports of race-based discrimination in the journal's operations.
Northwestern students, and students from scores of colleges and universities across the country, launched massive protests against their universities following Israel's war against Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Students demanded that their universities cease their investments in companies that do business with Israel.
In the Chicago area, students set up tented encampments on their university's main quads. Northwestern's encampment was taken down voluntarily by students after an agreement between students and faculty, where the university yielded to some demands to fund scholarships for Palestinian students and to hire Palestinian faculty members.
'There is no place for antisemitism at Northwestern, and the steps we have taken since last summer have dramatically improved the safety of our Jewish students,' Yates said in a statement.
'As detailed in a recent progress report on Northwestern's efforts to combat antisemitism, the University strengthened its Student Code of Conduct and other University-wide policies over the summer and has enforced these policies during this academic year,' Yates said.
'We have also instituted and begun mandatory yearly antisemitism trainings for faculty, staff and students and have adapted the IHRA definition of antisemitism into our conduct process. These steps have had an impact — there has been a significant decrease in reports of discrimination or harassment based on antisemitism or shared Jewish ancestry in the current academic year.'
Besides Northwestern, the Department of Education's ongoing investigations of Jewish harassment on college campuses includes Columbia University, Portland State University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota.