Steven Thrasher, a professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, has sued the university and several federal officials.
Thrasher, who joined the faculty in 2019, was denied tenure in March. He is slated to end his employment at the school in August after he compared Israel to Nazi Germany and participated in anti-Israel campus activities following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, names as defendants Northwestern, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Thrasher alleges that Northwestern suspended him from teaching after he linked arms with faculty members during the university’s anti-Israel tent encampment in April 2024, blocking students from campus police officers. He also claims that the school failed to keep him on under pressure from congressional Republicans and the Trump administration. He seeks reinstatement, tenure review, damages and an injunction.
Raeefa Shams at the Academic Engagement network, which has a faculty chapter at Northwestern, told JNS that “anti-Israel faculty helped to create an environment where Jewish and Zionist faculty and students on many campuses felt ostracized, bullied and even threatened. They used their professional and intellectual authority to reinforce and legitimize the actions of student activists.”
Thrasher signed a statement in October 2023 endorsing a boycott of Israel through the academic BDS movement. He also signed a petition supporting the formation of Educators for Justice in Palestine at Northwestern. According to the organization’s mission statement, members are committed to advancing the academic BDS campaign in their scholarship, teaching and campus activities.
Shams stated that “we appreciate the efforts of institutions to use their established procedures to increase accountability and work towards more inclusive and welcoming campuses.”
In a July 14 essay published on Literary Hub, Thrasher wrote that the defendants “robbed” him of his academic career and livelihood.
