Amid the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on campus antisemitism, at least one university that has come under investigation is touting a sharp decrease in discrimination and harassment reports by Jewish students.
The 2023-24 school year was turbulent at the Chicago-area institution, as it was at many universities, with campus antisemitism reports spiking after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and again in the spring of 2024. Now, Northwestern University is showing a sharp decline this school year, including an 88% decrease in discrimination and harassment reports last November compared to the same month in 2023.
Northwestern is one of 60 colleges and universities under investigation by President Donald Trump’s administration for its handling of antisemitism reports. Northwestern shared the discrimination and harassments stats on its website this week as part of a new report on the impact of its efforts to combat campus antisemitism and protect free speech.
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“Like many universities across the nation, Northwestern was not prepared for the antisemitism that occurred last year,” administrators write in the report. “The university administration took this criticism to heart and spent much of last summer revising our rules and policies to make our university safe for all of our students, regardless of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation or political viewpoint.”
Over the last year—and prior to Trump’s return to the White House—Northwestern banned overnight demonstrations along with tents and similar structures. All individuals on campus must now identify themselves when encountered by a university official. “Prohibited student conduct includes ‘refusing to remove or adjust a mask or face covering if requested to do so by an authorized University official for identification purposes,’” the report says.
The Student Code of Conduct sets a new intimidation standard that bars behavior that “[s]ubject[s] another person or group to abusive, demeaning, harassing, humiliating, intimidating, threatening or violent behavior that substantially affects the ability of the person or group to learn, work or live in the university environment.”
Northwestern also requires all students, faculty and staff to participate in antisemitism training as part of the school’s work on civil rights and Title IX.
“The fight against antisemitism is not a zero-sum game,” Northwestern report concludes. “All members of our communities on campus—all religions, races, national origins, genders, sexual orientations and political viewpoints—deserve to feel safe and know that our rules will be enforced to protect them against hate, discrimination, harassment and intimidation. Northwestern is committed to this principle.”
