HHS launched the probe after receiving a complaint alleging systemic discrimination against Jews
The Department of Health and Human Services is investigating Northwestern University over allegations that Jewish students have faced systemic discrimination on campus.
HHS’s Office for Civil Rights will probe whether Northwestern “complied with its obligations under Title VI not to discriminate against Jewish students, such that it denied them an educational opportunity or benefit,” the agency announced Tuesday. It noted that the investigation was launched after an advocacy organization filed a complaint alleging “systemic concerns” about the university’s ability to ensure nondiscrimination.
The probe is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Tuesday’s announcement didn’t name the organization and only referred to the targeted school as a “prestigious Midwest university,” but a Northwestern spokesman confirmed it was the subject of the investigation.
“We are currently reviewing the request from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights for information around specific events, policies and procedures.”
“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,” the spokesman said. “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.”
The Northwestern spokesman touted the university’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism, saying they “have had an impact,” and echoed claims from the March 31 progress report.
“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.”
Those trainings, however, rely on unverified data from the Council on American-Islamic Relations that inflate Islamophobic attacks, giving the false impression that those attacks vastly outpace anti-Semitic hate crimes, the Washington Free Beacon reported in February. And while the progress report points to a “significant decrease” in reports of discrimination or harassment against Jewish students, a Daily Northwestern poll published last week found that over 60 percent of Jewish students and 30 percent of all students saw campus anti-Semitism as a “serious problem.”
The probe comes a month after the Trump administration froze $790 million in federal funding to Northwestern and as the university faces a separate Department of Education civil rights investigation into alleged anti-Semitism and racial discrimination. The House Committee on Education and Workforce also demanded a meeting on anti-Semitism with Northwestern’s president, the Free Beacon reported.
Lisa Fields Lewis, the mother of a Northwestern student and national chair of the Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern, told the Free Beacon that Tuesday’s announcement marks a significant step forward.
“The launch of this federal civil rights investigation is a historic and necessary step toward justice. For too long, Jewish students at Northwestern have faced discrimination, harassment, and administrative indifference,” Fields Lewis said. “HHS’ action sends a powerful message: universities that accept federal funding cannot turn a blind eye to antisemitism. We commend the Office for Civil Rights for acting swiftly and decisively, and we urge Northwestern to cooperate fully with this investigation and finally uphold its legal obligations under Title VI.”
The launch of the HHS investigation follows a stretch of anti-Semitic incidents at Northwestern. During Passover last month, anti-Semitic vandals at Northwestern used red paint to write “Death to Israel” and drew Hamas triangles on Kresge Centennial Hall, a campus building that houses the school’s Holocaust center, the Free Beacon reported.
Earlier in April, Northwestern’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter hosted an anarchist training session featuring two pamphlets that included propaganda from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. Unity of Fields—a self-described “militant front against the US-NATO-zionist axis of imperialism” that has vowed to bring violence to America—created one, which quoted a PFLP leader and called on students to “build an Intifada” so that they could “destroy amerika [sic].” The other, crafted by the SJP chapter, featured a PFLP cartoon on the cover and encouraged students to “channel [their] anger” so that they could “aid in the fight” against Israel.
Northwestern is taking some action against anti-Semitic groups, however. The university warned its Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapter that its constitution, which bars Zionist Jews from joining, violates the school’s new anti-discrimination policy, the Free Beacon reported. Northwestern didn’t say how long JVP had to amend its rules or what consequences the recognized student group would face if it failed to comply.
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