By: Fern Sidman

A bitter political and moral confrontation has erupted over the handling of antisemitic incidents at Northwestern University, thrusting the city of Evanston, Illinois, into the national spotlight and prompting renewed congressional scrutiny of how local officials respond when campus protests cross the line into intimidation and violence. As detailed in a report that appeared on Monday in The Algemeiner, the chairman of the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan, has formally accused Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss of failing to protect Jewish students during a pro-Hamas, anti-Israel encampment that roiled the university in the spring of 2024.

In a sharply worded letter dated January 28, Walberg alleged that Biss, a Democrat, refused to authorize Evanston police to assist Northwestern administrators when they requested help dismantling an encampment that lawmakers say had devolved into a “hotbed of antisemitic harassment and hostility.” According to Walberg, the mayor’s decision left the university unable to enforce the law safely at a time when Jewish students were reporting assaults, intimidation, and overtly antisemitic abuse. The Algemeiner reported that committee documents cited in the letter indicate Northwestern’s own campus police lacked sufficient resources to make arrests without city support, effectively paralyzing enforcement efforts.

The allegations outlined in Walberg’s correspondence paint a disturbing picture of campus life during the encampment. Jewish students told investigators that they were spat on, verbally abused, and subjected to slurs such as “dirty Jew” and “Zionist pig” as they attempted to move through common areas of campus. Others reported being told to “go back to Germany” or to “get gassed,” language that lawmakers described as chillingly evocative of Nazi persecution. One student wearing a kippah said he was specifically targeted, while another recounted being physically assaulted as an encampment participant filmed the incident. These accounts stand in stark contrast to public portrayals of the encampment as a peaceful exercise in protest.

Northwestern University, located in the liberal suburb of Evanston just north of Chicago, became a focal point of anti-Israel activism following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Like many elite campuses, Northwestern saw a surge of protests that blended political advocacy with calls for institutional boycotts of Israel. The most consequential episode unfolded in May 2024, when pro-Hamas activists illegally occupied Deering Meadow, demanding that the university sever ties with Israeli entities. As The Algemeiner report documented, Jewish students attempting to navigate the campus during this period reported repeated incidents of harassment and physical intimidation, particularly those who wore visible Jewish symbols.

Against this backdrop, Walberg’s letter accused Mayor Biss of making a politically motivated decision to withhold police assistance. Walberg wrote that Biss declined to authorize support even after Northwestern formally requested help clearing the encampment, citing fears that police intervention might escalate tensions. The congressman rejected that rationale, arguing that the refusal effectively abandoned Jewish students to an environment of hostility. In Walberg’s telling, the city’s inaction allowed unlawful behavior to persist and undermined the university’s ability to maintain basic safety.

Mayor Biss forcefully rejected the accusations. Speaking at a City Hall news conference last week, he characterized Walberg’s letter as a “dishonest political attack,” asserting that it was designed to curtail the right to peaceful protest rather than to address antisemitism. Biss, who is himself Jewish and a grandson of Holocaust survivors, said he found the allegations “deeply, deeply offensive.” According to the information provided in The Algemeiner report, Biss argued that his critics were exploiting genuine concerns about antisemitism to advance a partisan agenda.

Biss defended his decision not to deploy Evanston police to the campus, saying it followed a careful assessment of public safety risks. “After meticulously assessing the situation through the lens of public safety and the right to peaceful protest, we came to that conclusion,” he said. He added that police officials had warned that sending city officers into the encampment might further inflame the situation. Biss maintained that, then and now, he believes the decision was the correct one.

The dispute has unfolded against a broader national investigation into antisemitism on college campuses. In the months following October 7, the Education and Workforce Committee launched inquiries into several universities, citing what lawmakers described as inadequate responses to a surge in antisemitic incidents. Walberg’s office released internal documents alongside the January 28 letter, which he said demonstrated that Northwestern officials were deeply concerned about the city’s refusal to provide police assistance and feared it left Jewish students exposed during a volatile period.

Northwestern President Michael Schill was himself summoned to testify before Congress in May 2024, as skepticism mounted over the university’s handling of campus unrest. Ultimately, Schill’s administration chose negotiation over enforcement, reaching what became known as the “Deering Meadow Agreement” with the encampment’s organizers. As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the agreement ended the occupation peacefully but sparked controversy for its concessions. The terms included establishing a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contacting potential employers of students who had disrupted campus activities to urge their hiring, creating a segregated dormitory hall exclusively for students of Middle Eastern and North African and Muslim descent, and forming a new advisory committee in which anti-Zionist students and faculty would wield significant influence.

Biss has pointed to the agreement as evidence that restraint and dialogue were preferable to police action, noting that it brought the encampment to an end without violence. Yet critics argue that the deal rewarded unlawful behavior and sidelined Jewish students who felt unsafe. Those criticisms gained new force when the agreement was abolished in November 2025 as part of a separate deal between Northwestern and the Trump administration. That agreement followed the impoundment of at least $790 million in frozen federal funds over allegations of antisemitism and other discriminatory practices. In exchange for restoring funding, Northwestern agreed to pay $75 million and implement measures designed to protect students from antisemitism, including mandatory training.

The post-agreement landscape has remained contentious. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that has faced scrutiny by US authorities over their Hamas ties, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a campus group seeking to block Northwestern’s new antisemitism prevention course. As The Algemeiner reported, the lawsuit was dropped last month, but it underscored the ongoing legal and political battles surrounding campus policies.

In his January 28 letter, Walberg suggested that Mayor Biss’s decisions were shaped by political ambition rather than public safety. Citing testimony from a Northwestern trustee, Walberg alleged that Biss publicly framed his refusal to provide police support as a way to bolster his progressive credentials, even as the university struggled to maintain order. Internal communications referenced by the committee reportedly showed that Northwestern officials feared the city’s stance left Jewish students vulnerable during a period of escalating unrest nationwide.

Walberg also criticized Biss for condemning the federal government’s agreement with Northwestern to restore funding, calling the mayor’s opposition inconsistent with his professed concern about discrimination. The committee has now requested a formal briefing from Biss on law enforcement coordination and antisemitism at Evanston-area campuses, signaling that further legislative action may follow. Walberg emphasized Congress’s authority to oversee education-related civil rights enforcement, including Title VI protections against religious and ethnic discrimination.

The controversy is unfolding amid Biss’s own political aspirations. The Evanston mayor is running for Congress in Illinois’s 9th District and has sought to align himself with the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. He has pledged to stop accepting funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and has adopted a platform sharply critical of Israel. In a campaign release responding to Walberg’s letter, Biss described the investigation as a “baseless attack” fueled by AIPAC and accused his critics of playing “cheap political games” ahead of early voting in the March primary.

Observers note that Biss faces a competitive primary against Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old anti-Israel social media personality with a strong following among progressive activists. As The Algemeiner report observed, some analysts believe Biss’s confrontational stance toward pro-Israel groups is aimed at consolidating support on the left flank of the party.

At its core, the dispute raises profound questions about how universities, municipalities, and elected officials should respond when political protest veers into ethnic or religious hostility. Walberg and his allies argue that the failure to intervene decisively sent a dangerous message that antisemitic harassment would be tolerated under the guise of activism. Biss and his supporters counter that heavy-handed policing would have escalated tensions and undermined civil liberties.

As congressional investigators press for answers and the political stakes continue to rise, the episode at Northwestern has become emblematic of a broader national reckoning. The clash between free expression and the obligation to protect vulnerable students shows no sign of abating, and the outcome of this confrontation may shape how campuses and cities navigate similar crises in the years ahead. For Jewish students at Northwestern, and for communities watching closely across the country, the debate is no longer abstract—it is a test of whether institutions will act decisively when safety and civil rights hang in the balance.