September 29, 2025 Update:

Official CAAN Statement on Northwestern’s Registration Holds on Students Who Refuse the Required Antisemitism/Anti-Discrimination Training

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAAN Statement: Northwestern to Holdouts—Complete the Antisemitism Training or Don’t Enroll; Qatar-Linked Networks and JVP Don’t Set Campus Policy

EVANSTON, Ill. — Sept. 29, 2025 — The Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN) supports Northwestern’s decision to place registration holds on students who refuse the required antisemitism/anti-discrimination training. This is a civil rights compliance requirement where completion is a condition of enrollment. Northwestern is right to hold firm.

At the same time, as Northwestern enforces this neutral standard, it must insulate civil rights policy from foreign-funded influence—most notably the long-standing support of Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) by the Qatar Foundation—by vesting decisions in neutral, conflict-free administrators.

Reports show more than 300 students refused to complete the required antisemitism training module. Some campus groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace Northwestern (“JVP NU”), urged boycotts and circulated an “open letter” to derail the requirement—an open web form padded with non-NU signers and anonymous/pseudonymous entries, including Evanston residents. We respect debate; we reject attempts to nullify the University’s duty to protect students from harassment. Vigorous discourse about Israel and the Palestinians is protected; targeting Jewish students is not.

What the boycott letter gets wrong

• It recasts compliance as censorship. A mandatory civil rights module is not a speech code. It sets baseline conduct standards so every student can learn free from harassment.

• It substitutes politics for policy. You can oppose Israeli policy all day. You don’t get to exclude or harass Jews on campus or demand a pass from the same compliance obligations that protect every other community.

On faculty leadership, conflicts, and Qatar-linked influence

CAAN is deeply concerned that Qatar-funded Professor Jessica Winegar—identified in congressional materials as a key architect of the Deering Meadow agreement and listed among the signatories to the boycott letter—is being lionized by the very networks now working to hollow out basic antisemitism compliance. Northwestern’s long-running financial entanglements with Qatar, including the Qatar Foundation’s support of NU-Q and related programmatic funding streams, raise serious conflict-of-interest questions when faculty connected to those ecosystems help shape campus civil rights policy. The Deering Meadow agreement rewarded encampment tactics and embedded ideological demands into governance—a textbook failure of risk management and compliance.

Professor Elizabeth Shakman Hurd: Public Encouragement of Non-Compliance

As reported, Professor Elizabeth Shakman Hurd—Qatar-linked through program affiliations—described the faculty version of the training as “more balanced” and publicly praised students for “staying the course.” She is also listed among the signatories to the boycott letter. That messaging encourages non-compliance with a civil rights requirement and undermines the University’s duty to protect Jewish students.

Given widely reported Qatar-linked funding of Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) and analyses such as the Middle East Forum’s report on Qatar’s campus influence, these ties warrant a formal conflict-of-interest review for any faculty shaping Title VI policy. Faculty may debate policy; they must not coach students to defy University-wide compliance standards.

CAAN’s firm demands regarding Prof. Winegar, Prof. Hurd, and policy governance:

• Immediate recusal from any role—formal or informal—touching antisemitism policy, bias training content, complaint intake, investigations, or disciplinary oversight.

• Independent, outside-counsel review authorized by the Board to examine (i) the Deering Meadow process, (ii) the role of faculty negotiators, and (iii) Qatar-linked financial or institutional ties relevant to policy setting; publish findings on a fixed timeline.

• Mandatory conflict-of-interest disclosures (publicly posted) for any administrator or faculty member involved in Title VI/antisemitism policy who has received foreign-linked funding, travel, or honoraria, or has programmatic ties to NU-Q/Qatar Foundation.

Northwestern must demonstrate that foreign-funded ecosystems and campus activism do not steer civil rights policy. Title VI compliance requires neutral, conflict-free decision-makers—and the Board must enforce that standard now. Federal stakes: a $790 million funding pause makes swift Title VI enforcement a financial imperative, not just a policy preference.

Policy must be paired with enforcement

Training without follow-through leaves Jewish students exposed to the same intimidation that triggered federal scrutiny. Northwestern must back the module with timely investigations, proportionate sanctions, and transparent (de-identified) reporting of outcomes. The standard is Title VI: when discrimination occurs, the institution acts—consistently, promptly, and even-handedly.

Apply rules neutrally to every student organization

If any club’s governing documents—including NU’s JVP chapter—exclude “Zionists” or condition membership on protected aspects of Jewish identity (religion, ethnicity, or perceived national origin), that is facial discrimination under University policy and must be immediately corrected or the organization disciplined. According to the Washington Free Beacon, Northwestern has already told JVP NU to change its constitution or risk discipline under the new anti-discrimination policy. No carve-outs. No double standards.

CAAN’s immediate recommendations to Northwestern

1. Maintain the enrollment holds until the module is completed across all schools and programs.

2. Enforce conduct, not just click-throughs: publish quarterly, de-identified metrics on antisemitism complaints, findings, and sanctions.

3. Audit RSO constitutions, such as that of Jewish Voice for Peace Northwestern (JVP NU), for compliance and require prompt corrective action where bylaws violate anti-discrimination rules.

4. Document a Title VI compliance plan that protects Jewish students’ civil rights while safeguarding lawful academic debate.

5. Install neutral oversight (outside the Deering Meadow cohort) for all antisemitism-related training and enforcement.

“Training is a floor, not a ceiling. Civil rights compliance begins with a module—and ends with enforcement.” — CAAN

Bottom line: Northwestern took a necessary first step by holding registrations. Now it must finish the job: enforce Title VI neutrally, cure discriminatory bylaws, separate activism from governance, and report outcomes—so Jewish students can learn free from discrimination and intimidation.

- Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN)