A few weeks after Michael Schill took the reins of Northwestern University in September 2022, a Jewish student wrote an essay for the school newspaper lamenting the nationwide rise of antisemitism and the proliferation of the slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” on campus.
Critics of the essay printed 40 copies and used them to create a large banner on campus with the slogan, which many Israelis and their supporters view as a call for the country’s extermination.
Days later, Mr. Schill, who is Jewish, said he did not have a firm view on whether the slogan was antisemitic, and he called on the university community to civilly debate tough issues.
“A university is built upon the idea that people should be free to express their views on both academic and political matters without fear of retribution,” Mr. Schill wrote in a statement in November 2022.
About a year later, after war broke out between Israel and Hamas, exacerbating tensions on campus, Mr. Schill took a harder line. In announcing the establishment of a committee to prevent antisemitism, Mr. Schill asked students to refrain from using the slogan, which he said many at Northwestern “interpret as promoting murder and genocide.”
On Thursday, members of Congress are expected to grill Mr. Schill on his handling of concerns about antisemitism on campus since 2022.
Representative Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the Committee on Education and the Workforce, criticized Mr. Schill’s leadership in a May 10 letter. She pointed to a deal Northwestern struck with protesters in late April — in which the school promised to be more transparent about its financial holdings — and accused university leaders of tolerating abusive and discriminatory conduct for years. She demanded records about disciplinary measures the school has taken in response to antisemitic acts.
Representative Foxx also expressed interest in Northwestern’s relationship with Qatar, which hosts a campus of the university. The leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, is based in Qatar.
Michael Simon, the executive director of Northwestern’s chapter of Hillel, a Jewish student organization, said in an interview that tensions on campus have ebbed since the university struck the agreement with protesters. But he said that emotions remained raw.
“It does not feel that this has been a place where folks are able to live, learn, thrive, discuss, dialogue and debate without fear of intimidation and harassment,” he said.
