A focus on gathering information

Dear Northwestern Community,

After a very productive initial meeting, our efforts have focused on coordinating with different offices and entities on campus to begin setting up listening sessions with students and other constituents on campus. Additionally, we have continued to collect data that helps us better understand the ways that antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate may manifest on Northwestern’s Chicago and Evanston campuses.

As we move through our work, we are intentionally focused on qualitative data (e.g. interviews; listening sessions; testimonials; etc.), empirical data (e.g. quantitative measures that include demographics; official complaints; current resources available to students, staff and faculty, including courses currently offered on a wide range of topics that may include Jewish or Israel Studies or Middle East and North African Studies or Islamic Studies; etc.) and landscape data (what is happening at other institutions with similar committees and pedagogical interventions, driven by curiosity about what is working well or is not). 

Taken together, these data sources will allow our committee to draw on the vast expertise on our campuses, create a set of parameters to further guide our explorations and help us understand the adequacy of our current resources and needs for future resources. We remain curious as we move forward.

Our team has begun to explore the University’s policies that guide our behavioral norms and expectations as members of Northwestern’s broader community and will engage with stakeholders who are developing guidelines for students to clarify their rights and responsibilities. We already have heard from many members of the Committee that having clearer definitions of rights and responsibilities would be helpful.

There are several internal conversations among Committee members to ensure we are being mindful of our commitments to have open, healthy and robust dialogues around this important work.

We remain aware of the challenges of our charge, the press for urgency, and the important hope that we will be considerably further along in June 2024 than we are now. We are all deeply committed to this work.

Our very best,

Bryan and Effi (on behalf of the Committee)

For all updates, please visit the Committee Updates page.