Northwestern University students barred from enrolling after refusing antisemitism training
Northwestern students blocked from enrollment over antisemitism training
Some students at Northwestern have been blocked from enrollment - after they refused to complete required antisemitism training.
EVANSTON, Ill. - Some Northwestern University students were not allowed to enroll for classes in the fall quarter for refusing or challenging training meant to combat antisemitism that they claimed was "offensive" and "unscholarly."
In an open letter to university administrators, more than 200 current students and graduate workers, alumni, staff, faculty, and parents, claimed that training videos on antisemitism and "anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases" would actually reinforce discriminatory bias.
The university's administration said the students received reminders of the required training for several months before their registration was withheld.
Student claims
What we know:
The letter detailed specific issues the students had with the content of the training videos.
Among the claims the group made, they said:
- The videos gave unequal attention to the histories of Israel and Palestine and the losses of life among Israelis and Palestinians. Specifically, they claimed the videos discuss the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in which more than 1,200 people were killed, but "does not mention the ongoing genocide in Gaza." More than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the ongoing war.
- The students said the videos provide "inaccurate historical information that erases the pain, suffering, and existence of the Palestinian people." For instance, they claimed the videos use a "contemporary" map of Israel, which includes the Golan Heights, a territory Israel annexed to widespread condemnation, although the previous Trump administration recognized.
Map shown in Northwestern University's antisemitism training video, according to NU students in open letter.
- Students also said the "Antisemitism Here/Now" training video is "unscholarly in numerous ways. They claimed it did not cite its sources and it "makes broad generalizations unsupported by evidence." As an example, they said the video claimed it spoke on behalf of "the vast majority" of Jews, but cited no statistics.
The students wrote in their letter:
"For these many reasons, we believe the training to be biased, unscholarly, discriminatory, and harmful to the Northwestern community overall. As a consequence, we cannot, in good conscience, take this training and accept that this content be imposed on our entire community, as well as on generations of students to come."
They also made certain requests of the administration, including that the school not prevent students from enrolling or expel them for their "principled stance against this denialist, unscholarly, discriminatory and morally harmful training." The students also wanted Northwestern to "STOP IMMEDIATELY" the dissemination of the training "in its current form."
What they're saying:
"The first thing that I kind of saw that really jarred me was a hand drawn map of the Israel-Palestine region that did not have Palestine written anywhere on the map," PHD candidate Laura Jaliff said. "And within the bounds of Israel, it included a portion of Syria that is internationally recognized to not belong to Israel.
"Northwestern—at least for the graduate and undergraduate portion — decided to partner with Jewish United Fund, which is a nonprofit in Chicago that is well-known for advocating in support of policies and defense for the state of Israel," PHD candidate Eden Melles said. "So immediately that sort of agenda came through in the content is highly political. It was much more focused on pushing an agenda that recognized the state of Israel, its sovereignty, and tried to distance the state of Israel from any sort of humanitarian rights violations."
"I teach at Northwestern and I feel an immense responsibility for ourselves and our consciences, but also for our students not to disseminate non-factual false information about the history of the region and for not endorsing silently the idea that any critique of Zionism or of the state of Israel... could be and will be construed or misconstrued as anti-Semitism," graduate student and teacher Micol Bez said.
"It worries me that Northwestern might encounter students who are looking to be informed and instead are being fed an opinion," Melles said.
"People do not want to live in a country in which our ability to stay at a job that we've been at for five years depends on whether we are willing to undergo a training that includes ideological political propaganda about a foreign country," Jaliff said. "I don't think anybody in this country wants to see us go down that route."
The administration's statement
In a statement, the university's administration said students are required to complete annual training about discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct. They explained that if they chose not to complete the mandatory training, this will result in "University action, including a registration hold."
The statement continued, "Students are not required to agree with the training modules but must attest that they will abide by the Student Code of Conduct, as well as the University’s policy on Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct."
The administration said the students were reminded of the mandatory training over the last several months.
For the 2024-2025 school year, Northwestern University reported a total enrollment of more than 23,000 students between undergraduate and graduate students, according to university documents.