Tales of a wounded Wildcat: Antisemitism at my alma mater - opinion

When I graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism a quarter century ago, the dean and professors made me feel proud to be a Northwestern Wildcat.

Dean Ken Bode hosted a monthly breakfast for students with bacon, eggs, and ham. I turned down the swine and brought grapefruit.

The graduation was on a Saturday, so Bode offered me a special graduation on Friday at his office and let me invite unlimited family, friends, and professors, while other students were limited to three guests.

At the ceremony, he presented me with a large box, with a smaller box inside and then another one. Inside the smallest box was – you guessed it – a grapefruit.

But the real prize was the diploma from America’s top journalism school. I will forever be grateful for the education I received, which launched my career.

I also appreciated that the campus was far from political back then. The only demonstration I remember was called “Take back the night” – voicing the consensus that rape is bad.

I wish I could say the same for current Jewish graduates, like Lily Cohen. Unfortunately, they have had a very different experience at Northwestern.

In November, Cohen penned a column in the Daily Northwestern about Jewish pride. Antisemites nastily took many copies of her article and turned them into a big sign on the campus’s main road painted with the words “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The article’s headline was “I am more proud of my Jewish identity than anyone can ever hate me for it.” They tried to prove her wrong. 

In January, Northwestern became a target of a federal investigation into its handling of antisemitism. The same day, university President Michael Schill announced the new members of a task force formed to combat antisemitism on campus that included Cohen and Hillel director Michael Simon but also noted antisemites, BDS-backers, and Oct. 7 massacre endorsers.

During Passover, Northwestern’s student government passed an antisemitic resolution urging the university to boycott and divest from Israel. The decision further alienated Jewish students who experienced a sharp increase in antisemitism since Oct. 7.

But those incidents were dwarfed by Schill’s surrender to the demands of an antisemitic encampment. He promised its leaders a new building for Muslim students and to bring in Palestinian professors and students. That led to seven members of the antisemitism task force, including Cohen, resigning and the ADL and StandwithUs calling for Schill’s firing.

In a new low, Steven Thrasher, whose title at Medill is “chair of social justice in reporting,” shockingly told students at the encampment that “our work is not about objectivity.”

Steven Thrasher, the chair of social justice in reporting at @MedillSchool, just posted the text of the speech he gave in the encampment. For the blocked (there are many), here are some excerpts. And by the way, the Hassan Zaid he mentions was a Houthi official. pic.twitter.com/VWntX8qjf2

— Zach Kessel (@zach_kessel) April 28, 2024

Going back to Northwestern

THEREFORE, IT was with great trepidation that I went to Northwestern to speak for HonestReporting and Standwithus as part of a three-week, coast-to-coast speaking tour.

“Surrendering to antisemitic lawbreakers won’t protect Jewish students, putting Qatari money first won’t bring peace, and miseducation by a shill for a terror-sponsoring state makes me ashamed to be an alum and more determined to insist on honest reporting coming out of this place,” I told the crowd.

Northwestern president defending appointing antisemitic faculty and students to a now defunct antisemitism committee. Now will not commit to keeping them off his new task force on antisemitism. Schill is a complete disaster. Northwestern is fundamentally broken.

— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) May 23, 2024

Schill’s testimony to Congress last Thursday did not make me feel better. In disappointing answers, he said faculty members who praised Hamas had “free speech,” and he declined to answer if it was right for Northwestern to formally partner with a Qatari government that harbors Hamas terrorists. 

“We did not give in to any of the protesters’ demands,” he said deceitfully. “The commitments we made are consistent with our values.”

At a congressional hearing @RepBurgessOwens asked @NorthwesternU's President SchillRep Owens: How much money has Northwestern University received from Qatar?President Schill: I don't have the dollar numberRep Owens: You can see the check behind me. This is the same Qatar… pic.twitter.com/PESRoBgGSf

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) May 23, 2024

When Utah Republican Burgess Owens asked Schill how much the university received from Qatar and he said he did not know, Owens hoisted a massive poster of a $600 million Qatari check made out to Northwestern to remind him.

The only silver lining came when Schill told Congress that he was concerned about his university’s agreement with Qatar’s state media Al Jazeera and that the deal would be reexamined. HonestReporting compiled a dossier against Al-Jazeera that was submitted to Schill, who claimed he had been unaware of the agreement until a week ago when he received the dossier.

The tents were down at Northwestern by the time I got there, so I went a few miles south to the encampment at DePaul University. I told the students there that they were not helping Gazans by supporting their Hamas oppressors or encouraging boycotts of companies that do business in Israel. Demonstrating how uninformed they were, they told me they were not against Jews – only Zionists.

I am convinced that these students will not achieve their overarching goal of persuading more Americans to become anti-Israel and that their protests endangering Jewish students will be remembered as backfiring and damaging to their own cause.

The polls prove it. This week’s Harvard Harris poll found that 79% of US voters believe student protesters should be removed from college campuses through detainment or arrest if they become violent or damage university property. A similar number, 78%, believe public university officials who choose to discipline these student protesters are taking necessary action to stop public safety threats and not violating their right to free speech and public assembly.

A Generation Lab poll published by Axios earlier this month found that only 8% of students across the US had participated in the protests. The situation in the Middle East was rated only ninth most important to students, after issues that more directly impacted them like healthcare, educational funding, and gun control.

Parents who paid more than $80,000 annually for their child to attend a top university and didn’t get to see them graduate on campus will not remember these protests fondly. The demonstrations blocking roads to airports that made people miss flights will not make them new friends.

I also believe the backlash against university presidents who caved in to the encampments will deter their colleagues from similar surrendering that would endanger Jewish students.

Roua Daas, a dual PHD candidate in Psychology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University spoke at the People's Conference for Palestine this weekend.I found her speech to be deeply radical as she preached for revolution, that the student movement was… pic.twitter.com/DHJ9xFmVL0

— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 27, 2024

They have heard statements like that of Roua Daas, a dual PhD candidate in psychology and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Pennsylvania State University, who spoke at the People’s Conference for Palestine.

“Divestment is not only to weaken Israel but also to reveal the non-democracy and US imperial agenda to the public,” she said, revealing her movement’s true agenda.

Pro-Israel students on campuses told me they appreciated HonestReporting and other organizations for giving them the tools they need to correct the narrative on the current war and the hope that they can succeed in an uphill battle, undaunted in their goal of helping Israel, against all odds.

It is a big challenge. But hopefully, Jewish students will have an easier time on campuses like Northwestern next year and there will not have to be any more wounded Wildcats. 

The writer is the executive director and executive editor of the pro-Israel media watchdog HonestReporting. He served as chief political correspondent and analyst of The Jerusalem Post for 24 years.