Northwestern Dean of Students Joins Protest at Campus Hillel Center

Hat tip Legal Insurrection

At Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, it seems that the administration itself is now participating in anti-Israel protests. Not only did the usual miscreants from Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace show up to protest on April 15, but they were joined by the Dean of Students, Mona Dugo! During the protest, several participants verbally attacked the campus chapter of Hillel.

Here is how the campus newspaper, Daily Northwestern, reported it.

My first question was whether part of the protest actually took place in front of the Hillel facility (apparently not). I examined a campus map of Northwestern online and found that the various locations mentioned for the protest are separate and away from the Hillel office. How far the walking distance is I can’t say. Wherever the demonstration took place, what is troubling is not necessarily that the dean of students was present, but why she was present according to her own statement.

Based on my own experiences and knowledge of the Orange County Hillel at UC Irvine, where I used to teach, they are set up on college campuses to support Jewish students and enhance their campus life with social and religious functions. As to what extent they support Israel varies from campus to campus and chapter to chapter. Within National Hillel in recent years, there has been an effort by some elements to establish “open Hillel” chapters that would admit Jewish students opposed to Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. In the last several years, the UC Irvine chapter has usually discouraged Jewish students from getting involved in Israel-related campus conflicts, preferring to keep a low profile and work with the university. The current president of Hillel at UC Irvine has attended some of the recent campus anti-Israel events, not to join in, but rather to observe and document what goes on. At any rate, I think it would be highly inappropriate to protest in front of any Hillel office on any campus. It would only lend credence to the widespread belief (including mine) that this entire movement is anti-Semitic.

As to Dugo’s presence at the protest itself, it is not unusual for such university officials to show up to observe the goings-on and ensure that order is maintained (not to ensure that the protesters’ free speech rights and right to protest are protected). Dugo’s words imply that she supported the protesters. At best, her words were awkward, and at worst, outrageous. I think she owes Hillel and Northwestern’s Jewish students either a clarification or an apology.