People walk on the campus of Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, US, April 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Vincent Alban

Northwestern University in Illinois is being sued for teaching its students and staff not to indulge or promote antisemitism, according to a new lawsuit filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that has been scrutinized by US authorities over alleged ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The action comes several weeks after the university paused course enrollment for an unspecified number of students who refused to participate in anti-discrimination seminars which emphasized antisemitism prevention. In a statement to The Algemeiner, Northwestern said the students had advance notice that their declining to complete the course, as well as other “mandatory student trainings,” in a manner consistent with “the policy on Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct,” would precipitate “action, including a registration hold.”

CAIR, acting on behalf of the Northwestern Graduate Workers for Palestine (GW4P) group, argues that the course violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and accuses Northwestern University of holding it as a “pretense” for censoring “expressions of Palestinian identity, culture, and advocacy for self-determination.”

The argument castigates a training video featured in the course while appearing to suggest that the behavior perpetrated by anti-Israel activists that Jewish civil rights groups have aimed to stop — such as beating up Jewish students, calling for their deaths, and advocating the destruction of their ancient homeland by terrorists — is inherent to both Palestinian and Arab culture.

“Northwestern coerced many of its students into … watching the JUF video by placing a hold on the registration of students who did not,” the suit states, disparaging the group which produced the video, Jewish United Fund, as being founded to promote censorship. “These policies and practices discriminate against the university’s Palestinian and other Arab students by branding their ethnic and religious identities, cultures, and advocacy for the rights of their national group as antisemitic and subject to discipline.”

On Monday Jewish civil rights advocates said that CAIR’s lawsuit is meritless, arguing it undermines the spirit of the Civil Rights Act.

“CAIR’s lawsuit is not a civil rights case. On the contrary, it’s an attack on civil rights enforcement,” said Lisa Fields, national chair of Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN) and parent of a Northwestern student. “Northwestern’s antisemitism training was developed to protect Jewish students after years of escalating harassment. The complaint – which argues that teaching students about antisemitism violates the Civil Rights Act – illustrates how litigation is being used to intimidate universities into silence.”

She added, “This is precisely why Northwestern needs independent federal oversight. Jewish students deserve safety and equal protection, not legal challenges that undermine the fight against antisemitism.”

“The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Graduate Workers for Palestine at Northwestern University, which alleges that mandatory antisemitism training constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” said StopAntisemitism, a civil rights nonprofit. “We wish we were kidding.”

CAIR’s activity in the US has prompted a storm of controversy, as previously reported by The Algemeiner. In September, US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) exposed materials which CAIR distributes in its local activism — notably its “American Jews and Political Power” course — to spread its beliefs. Some of it attempts to revise the history of Sharia law, which severely restricts the rights of women and is opposed to other core features of liberal societies.

Additionally, since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, CAIR’s chapter in Philadelphia has lobbied the state government to enact anti-Israel policies and accused Gov. Josh Shapiro of ignoring the plight of Palestinians. In a 2023 speech following Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, CAIR’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, said he was “happy to see” Palestinians “breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.”

Northwestern University’s handling of antisemitism after Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel continues to be investigated by the federal government, which recently impounded $790 million worth of taxpayer funds previously appropriated to it, for potential civil rights violations. In response to public concern, Northwestern earlier this year issued a report detailing its enactment of a checklist of policies it said has meaningfully addressed campus antisemitism.

“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,” the university said. “Among the updated policies is our Demonstration Policy, which includes new requirements and guidance on how, when, and where members of the community may protest or otherwise engage in expressive activity.”

Northwestern added that it adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and instituted the “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions for “all students, faculty, and staff” that CAIR aims to abolish.

Jewish Northwestern students continue to report experiencing antisemitism at alarming rates. According to a Spring Campus Poll conducted by The Daily Northwestern, the school’s official campus newspaper, 58 percent of Jewish students reported being subjected to antisemitism or knowing someone who has. An even higher 63.1 percent said antisemitism remains a “somewhat or very serious problem.”

At the time, Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a coalition of hundreds of organizations that fight anti-Jewish bigotry around the world, charged that the results show that the university has more to do to establish equality for all students.

“Yes, the university has reformed policies, implemented trainings, and adopted new definitions. It has pledged transparency and accountability — and some of those measures are meaningful,” the organization said. “But the reality remains: Jewish students continue to feel unsafe, and a majority still see antisemitism as a serious, unresolved issue.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.