A coalition of Jewish groups called for the immediate removal of Northwestern University president Michael Schill on Thursday, after months of rising anti-Semitism on campus.
The call from the World Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith, and over a dozen other organizations came days after Schill’s highly-criticized testimony to Congress.
"President Schill’s testimony before Congress on May 23, 2024, underscored significant leadership challenges at Northwestern University," said the groups in a press statement on Thursday. "Through his short tenure of less than two-years, concerns regarding antisemitism, discrimination, racism and xenophobia have been repeatedly raised. Schill has neither enforced Northwestern’s Code of Conduct, nor proposed any credible solution to address these issues."
The statement also demanded the termination of Peter Barris, the chair of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees.
Groups backing the call to oust Schill include StandWithUs, the Israeli-American Council, the Lawfare Project, the Israel Campus Coalition, Northwestern’s Jewish Business Association, Northwestern’s Jewish Law Students’ Association, and the Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern.
Schill has been criticized for failing to protect Jewish students, some of whom said they were spat on, assaulted, and told to "go back to Germany and get gassed" by the anti-Israel protesters, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
He has also come under fire after granting numerous concessions to the anti-Israel protesters—such as hiring professors from the Palestinian territories—in exchange for the students removing illegal encampments from the school’s lawn. Seven Jewish members of Northwestern’s anti-Semitism task force resigned in protest of Schill’s negotiations, forcing the committee to disband.
Lawmakers on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has been investigating campus anti-Semitism, grilled Schill last week over his decision to appoint several members of the school’s anti-Semitism task force who had called for anti-Israel boycotts, defended the eliminationist "From the River to the Sea" chant, and advocated for a Palestinian terrorist who murdered college students.
During his testimony, Schill refused to say he wouldn’t appoint individuals with a history of anti-Semitism to the committee. He also said no students have been suspended or expelled over the anti-Semitic assaults on campus, stating that the incidents are still under investigation.
In addition to the congressional probe, Northwestern has been hit with anti-Semitism complaints filed with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, a student-led lawsuit in Cook County, Illinois, and a student-led Title VI lawsuit.
The Free Beacon’s editors called for Schill’s termination after his testimony last week, arguing that he "is hellbent on institutionalizing anti-Semitism rather than on taking steps to combat it."