The leaders of three prominent national Jewish organizations – all graduates of Northwestern University – submitted a letter late Wednesday to Peter Barris, Chairman of Northwestern University Board of Trustees, asking for an immediate change of leadership after the failure to effectively combat antisemitism on campus earlier this week.
 

“We write to add our voices to the chorus of dismay and disgust at the failure of our alma mater to effectively combat antisemitism in its midst, instead condoning and normalizing antisemitic behavior through its agreement with student protestors who have violated campus policies with impunity,” wrote Eric D. Fingerhut, President and CEO, Jewish Federations of North America, Jonathan Greenblatt, President and CEO, ADL (Anti Defamation League), and Rachel Garbow, President and CEO, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. 

The group also put its support behind the trustees who chose to resign from the Presidents’ Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate after leadership failed to act. 
  

“The failure of the University to consult this distinguished body during this episode of unprecedented antisemitism and hate on the Evanston campus is inexplicable and inexcusable,” the letter states. 

Fingerhut, Greenblatt, and Garbow also agreed with the Jewish United Fund of Chicago that “the overwhelming majority of your Jewish students, faculty, staff, and alumni feel betrayed.” 

The leaders also demanded that anyone seeking attention of university leadership on any political matter do so within Northwestern’s Code of Conduct. 

Read the full letter here.