[Below is the final text of a statement drafted by Northwestern Alumni on November 15, 2023.] Please see the published version here. 

President Schill,

As Northwestern University alumni, we write to express our deep concerns regarding your recent communication ‘Announcing New Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate’ and the context surrounding it.

Since October 7th, more than 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 28,000 injured by Israeli airstrikes that target homes, churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, bakeries, and UN shelters. In the West Bank, more than 2,000 Palestinians have been arrested as political prisoners and more than 100 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military and settlers. This amounts to a “textbook case of genocide,” according to former UN official Craig Mokhiber. To juxtapose “the brutal terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas'' with the “ensuing military action in Gaza'' erases the perpetrator of that military action—Israel—as well as the brutality and terror of the collective punishment inflicted on Palestinians. 

The explicit asymmetries in your language create hierarchies of pain and contribute to documented dehumanization of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims, and the disregard for the increasing violence they face. Northwestern conflates Palestinians and pro-Palestine sentiment with “terrorism” when it indicates that there are multiple “flags associated with Hamas” and implies that the University views the Palestinian flag as representative of terrorism. Palestinians, the pro-Palestine movement, and NU Students for Justice in Palestine specifically, clearly state that the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is not genocidal or hateful. To characterize it as such is disingenuous during a time in which pro-Israel ralliers, American lawmakers, and Israeli officials are making direct calls for unrestrained violence, and the death and extermination of Palestinians—none of which have been condemned by administration. This bad faith interpretation additionally ignores the history of the statement, an earnest desire for pluralistic liberation—that all people in Palestine will be free.

While Northwestern's commitment to combating hate is commendable, the committee relegates years of racialized marginalization faced by Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, as well as those from Black, Latinx, Native American, and Asian communities on Northwestern’s campus to ‘other hate.’ Despite the University’s attempt to pit our communities against one another through this division, we recognize that all of these forms of hate share common roots in white supremacy, colonialism, and anti-Blackness. The deliberate invocation of antisemitism as exceptional to other forms of hate makes clear the University’s stance of prioritizing a specific community’s concerns at the expense of others, when the University must be committed to combating all forms of hate equally. Appointing a former Israeli Defense Forces Chief Operating Officer to address “targeting students, faculty or staff of Muslim or Arab heritage” confirms that some narratives are secondary in these critical discussions. 

The cited communication indicates that certain expressions of political views, even if not policy violations, “have no place in the university community.” This statement, alongside historical administrative backlash to pro-Palestine activism and lack of institutional support, raise questions about the institution's dedication to fostering an environment based on mutual respect and dialogue. It is concerning that the threat of antisemitism is being leveraged to silence student organizing, dox activists, and suspend student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace on campuses across the country because of discomfort with confronting violence enacted by Israel.

We stand with the students at Northwestern who share our concerns and are watching the backlash and silencing of voices of conscience on campuses. These students follow in the legacy of alumni who organized against war, for Black Lives, for the university to divest from corporations complicit in the occupation of Palestine, climate disaster, and prisons. 

Northwestern University must preserve learning, growth, free expression, and space for robust debates that contribute to intellectual exploration and societal progress. 

As a result, we call for action on the following demands: 

1. Establish an equivalent committee to address the rising Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate.

2. Protect the safety, security, and free speech of Palestinian and pro-Palestine students.

3. Comply with the Associated Student Government’s 2015 and 2021 votes to divest. 

4. Publicly condemn the genocide in the Gaza Strip, alongside alumni.

We pledge to withhold our donations and support to Northwestern until the above demands are addressed.

Signed,

Northwestern University Muslim Alumni (NUMA)

Students for Justice in Palestine Alumni

NUDivest Alumni

Arab Student Organization Alumni