EVANSTON, Ill. — Pro-Palestinian demonstrator’s tents have come down at Northwestern University, following an agreement that was reached on Monday, but another controversy is surfacing.
Critics are now condemning the school’s deal with student protestors that led to the removal of the encampment.
“I think we all deserve to feel safe on campus and it robs us a little of our human dignity, to feel like we can’t walk down the street and feel completely unapologetically ourselves,” MBA student Susan Radov said.
“I think the agreement was weak and I’m glad the encampment came down I would like to see all the hateful posters come down too,” MBA student Susan Radov said in response to the agreement reached between university officials and protestors.
The deal came five days after demonstrators set up an encampment on the Deering Meadow. Administrators responded by banning tents and temporary structures but did not enforce the new policy as they negotiated over the weekend.
“There’s no reason to have this conversation because they’re not following school policy. It’s a very simple ask, unfortunately, they just wanted to hush it up the admin capitulated and conceded,” Executive Director at Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) Avi Gordon said.
Monday’s agreement requires the removal of all tents and sound systems, but students and staff can continue demonstrating on campus until June 1. In return, the school will re-establish an advisory committee on investment responsibility, fund two visiting Palestinian faculty and five student scholarships per year, and renovate a safe space building for Muslim students.
Members of the Jewish community say they are upset about what they call “un-checked antisemitism” on campus.
“They’re sharing hateful speech rhetoric calling for the annihilation of the only Jewish state in the world, calling for Zionists to die,” Gordon said.
“Seeing undergraduates wearing t-shirts with pictures of Hamas terrorists is quite frightening,” Radov said.
Radov is among more than a dozen Jewish students from Northwestern heading to Washington D.C. this week.
“This is rampant at UCLA, USC, Penn, Columbia I think we need a widespread, systemic response,” Radov said.
The students are calling on the federal government to step in, advocating for legislation that would define antisemitism.
“Many states have adopted it, schools have adopted it, NU needs to adopt it as well,” Gordon said. “What that adoption does is create another tool in the toolbox for this administration to say when something happens on campus, ‘That action is antisemitic in nature.’”
Several other groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Israeli consulate in Chicago, and the American Jewish Committee have voiced opposition to the agreement.
WGN-TV reached out to Northwestern for comment and has not yet heard back.