Northwestern University was one of 60 schools that received letters Monday warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations to protect Jewish students on campus.
The letters are the latest in a long line of actions taken by President Donald Trump to crack down on antisemitism. In a press release Monday, the department warned that federal funding or “public investment funded by U.S. taxpayers” to those who “do not fulfill their obligations” could be withdrawn.
“That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws,” newly instated Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in the press release.
Over the weekend, Northwestern was one of 10 universities placed on a list of schools by the U.S. Department of Justice alleged to be leaving Jewish students and faculty unprotected, the New York Times reported. Reports of the letter followed the Trump administration’s announcement that it was pulling $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University because of what it described as antisemitism on campus.
In early February, Northwestern was put under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education through a newly created multiagency task force for what the federal agency called “widespread antisemitic harassment.”
Monday’s letters went to “all U.S. universities that are presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination,” the Education Department said in the press release. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities — like universities — that receive federal financial assistance.
The Education Department said in Monday’s press release that the universities must begin to resolve what it called a “backlog of complaints alleging antisemitic violence and harassment.” Last week, the enforcement staff at the agency’s Office of Civil Rights was directed to make “an immediate priority” resolving those complaints that “were allowed to languish unresolved under the previous administration,” the release said.
Northwestern did not respond to repeated requests for comment Monday.
Changes at the federal level have the biggest effect on students, said Leslie Harris, a professor of African American history at Northwestern. She organized a “teach-in” with several other professors last Thursday to help Northwestern’s community understand what she described as the “chilling effect of funding cuts” and the shutting down of “free speech.” Hundreds of students and faculty came to ask questions.
“The students have been very worried and have had no place to put that worry or even really clearly understand,” Harris said. “I tell them their voice really matters, that they need to let people know how this is affecting them.”
Last spring, when protests sprung up at schools across the country to protest the war in Gaza, tents at Northwestern were set up and taken down in a peaceful agreement between students and faculty. It was believed to be the first such agreement between a major U.S. university and pro-Palestinian protesters. The encampment was up for just five days before it was dismantled.
The colorful tents and signs that students set up in Northwestern’s Deering Meadow did make some students feel unsettled, said Sari Eisen, president of Northwestern Hillel, a Jewish organization.
“There were situations (last spring) where I didn’t feel comfortable sharing parts of my identity related to Judaism or related to Israel,” Eisen said Monday. “It was very uncomfortable on campus, not necessarily always unsafe, but uncomfortable to walk by an encampment on the way to the classroom, wherever we were going.”
After the protest, in May 2024, Northwestern President Michael Schill, who is Jewish, testified before Congress at a hearing on antisemitism. In his testimony, he doubled down on his commitment to make Jewish students feel comfortable and work with pro-Palestinian student protesters.
In late October, his name was put on a report by the Education Department that called into question the honesty of that testimony.
“I condemn hate in all its forms, including antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Israeli or anti-Palestinian hate, or any form of identity-based discrimination … There is absolutely no room on our campus or in our society for this type of heinous behavior,” Schill wrote in a Nov. 2 statement to the university last year.
The university has made “significant” and “recognizable” progress to make its Jewish community feel at ease, according to Eisen.
Over the summer, it updated its code of conduct in response to criticism of the university’s handling of demonstrations. Northwestern students told the Tribune on Monday that the university provided a mandatory antisemitic video training at the end of February.
But some students found the video troubling, said Isabelle Butera, a senior at Northwestern involved with the organization Jewish Voices for Peace. Butera said certain campus groups are “mobilizing against it.”
“I am a Jew who stands in support of Palestine,” she said. “For me to be safe on this campus, this university needs to not just protect Jewish students, but to protect all students, students of color, Muslim students, queer students.”
Butera said she has been closely following Northwestern’s websites as they are scrubbed clean of any references to diversity, equity and inclusion. She’s urged the university to “defend the research and free discourse” that she said is inherent to academia — to not just sit back, but to take a stand.
The Education Department’s letter addressed to Northwestern and dozens of other schools came two days after federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist who helped lead the protests at Columbia.
Lucas, a junior of Palestinian descent at Northwestern, described the immigration enforcement at Columbia as “scary.” He requested his last name be withheld for fear of threats or retaliation from the student community. Lucas is a U.S. citizen but worries about others in the Northwestern community.
“For my own safety, I feel OK at the moment,” he said. “But this is not the principle of democracy that our country was founded upon.”
Ultimately, the actions taken together represent a concerning trend, said Callie Maidhof, assistant senior instructional professor and associate director of global studies at the University of Chicago.
“One of the things that we are seeing at universities across the country is greater and greater kinds of punishments and disciplinary actions against students who have been in protest,” Maidhof said.
The threat of funding cuts so far hasn’t affected other local colleges. Southern Illinois University, the University of Illinois Chicago, DePaul University and the University of Chicago could not confirm any announcement or update relating to federal funding cuts connected to antisemitism.
“At DePaul University, we condemn antisemitism in all its forms and will continue to stand firm in doing so,” Kristin Claes Mathews, senior director of strategic communications for DePaul, said in a statement.
Kim Renfeld, director of communications at SIU, said in a statement that the university protects the rights of students to “peacefully express their opinions, including those on issues where people passionately disagree.”
