Northwestern faces federal scrutiny for providing legal support to anti-Israel protesters

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University is facing scrutiny from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce over its response to allegations of antisemitism on campus and the use of university resources to support political activism.

The backstory:

In a letter addressed to Northwestern President Michael Schill and Board of Trustees Chair Peter Barris, the committee raised concerns over the university’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic at the Pritzker School of Law providing free legal representation to organizers of a protest that blocked traffic to O’Hare International Airport. The protest, described as an anti-Israel demonstration, resulted in the arrest of 40 participants.

Lawmakers questioned whether a federally funded institution should allocate its resources to support people involved in what they described as illegal and antisemitic activity. 

The letter also cited broader concerns about Northwestern’s handling of antisemitism, referencing a previous committee report that accused university leadership of empowering anti-Israel faculty and tolerating campus demonstrations perceived as hostile toward Jewish students.

The committee further criticized Northwestern Law’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic for engaging in what it described as left-wing political activism under the guise of legal education. The clinic, led by law professor Sheila A. Bedi, works with social justice movements and provides students with academic credit for advocacy work. Lawmakers argued that taxpayer-funded federal student aid should not be used to support political activism within university programs.

The committee requested Northwestern provide documentation by April 10, detailing policies governing legal clinics, financial records related to the Bluhm Legal Clinic and its subsidiaries, and hiring and performance records for Bedi. The university has not yet publicly responded to the inquiry.

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Big picture view:

Earlier this month, the Department of Education threatened to take away federal funding to Northwestern University and dozens of other schools if they didn’t do enough to protect Jewish students on their campuses.

The threats in letters sent to 60 colleges and universities around the country come as the department is investigating Northwestern and several other schools over their handling of incidents of alleged antisemitism.

Sec. Linda McMahon warned the schools in the letters of "potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus."