Northwestern University students head to D.C., plan to speak about antisemitism on campus

CBS News

06-05-2025

Northwestern University has been under the microscope of the Trump administration as the subject of an investigation for how it handled reports of antisemitism on campus in recent years.
Now, some students are in Washington to speak to lawmakers and to visit the White House.
The investigation is into of what the Department of Education calls "explosions of antisemitism" on college campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. An initial report cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects individuals from discrimination based on national origin and applies to schools and institutions of higher learning that receive federal funding.
A total of 60 institutions of higher education were warned in March that they were under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for possibly violating Title VI by allowing alleged antisemitic harassment and discrimination on their campuses.
Meanwhile last month, red antisemitic graffiti was found sprayed on Northwestern buildings. In a letter to university community members, Northwestern President Michael Schill wrote that a group of people vandalized several buildings on the university's Evanston campus — spray-painting "antisemitic slogans and hate-filled language."
Among the spray-painted messages was "Death to Israel" on the front of Kresge Hall.
Students Max Schlanger and Or Yahalom said such acts leave them feeling unsafe.
"You would not feel safe on campus," Schlanger said.
Schlanger and Yahalom are both now in Washington, D.C. They plan to talk with lawmakers and advocate for change, along with more than a dozen other Northwestern students.
"Being on this trip, we are facing social costs from our peers," said Yahalom.
This also comes after an Arab dance group performed in a university dining hall, in a display by which Northwestern now says it is "shocked and appalled."
The problem some students have is not with the dance, but with the shirts the group wore. The back of the shirts had the word "Palestine" in Arabic with a map and a keffiyeh over it.
"To ignorantly hire a dance group which effectively has 'death to Israel' on the back of their shirts, two weeks after students or someone spray paints 'death to Israel' on the building which houses the Holocaust Education Center, is appalling," Schlanger said.
Ahmad Awad is a member of the dance group, and said the dance was for Arab Heritage Month.
"There was no need to bring politics into it," Awad said.
He added that the group has worn the shirt for hundreds of events.
Northwestern issued this statement about the performance:
"The University is shocked and appalled by the performance of an outside entertainment company Tuesday night at Sargent Dining Hall, at which members of the dance company wore camouflage pants, t-shirts that superimposed a keffiyeh over the state of Israel, and waved a Palestinian flag as part of an Arab American Heritage observance. The company was hired by the University's independent dining vendor, Compass, which did not share details of the proposed performance with the University in advance.
"Northwestern unequivocally disapproves of Compass' poor judgment in allowing this performance to occur while our students were eating dinner. Dinner should be a time of relaxation, sustenance, and community, not a time for unwelcome and inappropriate political expression.
"At the University's request, Compass has removed its team members who led their Northwestern operations and their campus marketing function. In addition, the University has placed an administrator who oversees the residential dining program on leave.
"Northwestern is examining all of its legal remedies under its contract with Compass.
"The University apologizes to any student who encountered the performance and was made to feel uncomfortable."
Awad said he does not believe such actions were warranted.
"It really is unfortunate that she was removed from the position because she doesn't deserve that," he said.
As for the students in D.C., they are headed to the White House on Tuesday for a national news conference. Michael Kaminsky, a DePaul University student, will also speak at the news conference — he was injured in an antisemitic attack.
"It's just going to do more to remedy the situation," Schlanger said.