Representative Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, speaks during a news conference about the ongoing protests happening on college campuses, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Campuses across the US have been grappling with anti-Israel protests and counter demonstrations since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Most recently, Northwestern’s decision to capitulate to antisemitic, pro-terror encampment organizers prompted seven members of Northwestern’s antisemitism advisory committee to resign in protest and for three national Jewish organizations, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Louis D. Brandeis Center, and StandWithUs, jointly to call for President Schill’s resignation or removal," Foxx's letter states.
The so-called "Northwestern Liberated Zone" was established on April 29, 2024, by a group of students and faculty who staged an unauthorized five-day anti-Israel protest and encampment on Deering Meadow at Northwestern University in Illinois. It was part of the nationwide movement that began at Columbia University with students and Hamas supporters demanding that institutions of higher learning fully divest from Israel and condemn the war in Gaza.
Under the agreement, Northwestern said it plans to cover the full cost of attendance for five Palestinian students who attend the school for the duration of their undergraduate careers.
The agreement also provides for immediate temporary space for [Middle East and North Africa] MENA/Muslim students and a house for MENA/Muslim students that is conducive to community building as soon as practically possible, or sometime after 2026.
Students set up tents outside Northwestern University as part of an ongoing protest in support of Palestinian rights, demonstrating their commitment to the cause in Evanston, Illinois, on April 25, 2024. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On the same day, a Jewish Northwestern student was reportedly assaulted by an encampment member while recording the encampment, according to video posted on X. Other Jewish students reported harassment from protesters, including a woman who said she was "told to go back to Germany and get gassed," and a student wearing a yarmulke who reported being spat at as he walked past the encampment.
Foxx's letter also points to antisemitic incidents at Northwestern University that predate the encampment, including a Jewish student who was "called a terrorist and a colonizer" after she wrote an op-ed discussing antisemitism at the university. It also cites a statement from Northwestern's SJP issued in response to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which stated, "the occupied and oppressed have the undeniable right to resist and seek their freedom without stigmatization as instigators and terrorists."
Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, killed 1,200 Israelis as they brutally raped, tortured and murdered their way through southern Israel during the Oct. 7 attack, taking some 250 captives back to Gaza.
Protest signs accuse Israel of genocide in the war in Gaza at an encampment at Northwestern University. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The letter notes at least seven other examples of alleged antisemitic incidents at Northwestern that took place before the encampment and at least 13 that happened since April 25.
"The record makes clear that President Schill and other Northwestern leaders have not only failed to address the pervasive antisemitic harassment and disruptions of a safe learning environment that have plagued the University in a serious manner, but have also surrendered to the malefactors responsible for this hatred and chaos," Foxx writes. "This is an unacceptable dereliction of duty."
Northwestern University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Schill wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune published Thursday that stated that "University presidents are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the wave of protests and tent encampments on our campuses."
The column was titled "Here’s why I reached an agreement with Northwestern protesters."
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Schill wrote that anti-Israel protesters at Northwestern "asked for several changes to university policy, including divestment from Israel and the end of an academic program that focused on Israeli innovation. We said a flat no to both. But we did say we understood their isolation and alienation and wanted to work with them to improve life at Northwestern for Muslim students and students from the Middle East and North Africa."
"Ultimately, we came to an agreement that they would take down the tent encampment and bring the demonstration into compliance with our rules and regulations," Schill said, adding that the school has agreed to "establish a house for Muslim and Middle Eastern students to eat, pray and socialize, something already enjoyed by our Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Black and female students," among other changes.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman, Greg Wehner and Jon Street contributed to this report.
Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
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