Northwestern University to Require ‘Mandatory’ Antisemitism Training for All Students, Faculty

Northwestern University announced that all students and faculty would receive “mandatory trainings on antisemitism” as well as “other forms of hate.”

In a press release issued on Tuesday, the university announced that new students, and “returning students,” would receive mandatory trainings in an effort to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate on campus. The university noted that there was “no room” on the campus for antisemitism, Islamophobia, or racism.

The press release from the university comes months after it reached an agreement with anti-Israel protesters who established an encampment on campus. Under the agreement, the university agreed to offer scholarships to Palestinian students, special housing to Muslim students, and agreed to re-establish an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility.

“Mandatory trainings on antisemitism and other forms of hate will be used in September at incoming student orientation and over the Fall Quarter for all returning students,” the university said. “Training also will be provided to staff and faculty.”

“There is no room on our campus for antisemitism; there is no room for Islamophobia; there is no room for racism and other forms of identity-based hate,” the university added. “Northwestern will not tolerate behavior or speech that harms members of our community.”

Additionally, the university announced that it would have “a set of lectures and panels on antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism.” Other lectures and panels would discuss “the history and politics of the conflict in the Middle East.”

In the spring, pro-Palestinian protesters established encampments at several universities throughout the nation after an initial encampment was established at Columbia University. While the first encampment at Columbia University was removed, another one popped up in its place and remained until officers from the New York Police Department conducted a raid at the end of April.

Encampments were established at universities such as George Washington University, Yale University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others.

In the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people murdered and more than 250 people taken as hostages, antisemitic incidents in the United States increased by 360 percent, according to a press release from the Anti-Defamation League in January.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also announced in January that since Hamas’s attack on Israel, it had “received 3,578 complaints during the last three months of 2023,” according to Reuters. This represented a 178 percent increase from the complaints that were received during the “same period from a year earlier.”