Palestine Legal announced on Wednesday that it filed a complaint against the Pritzker School of Law with the U.S. Department of Education for a ‘hostile Anti-Palestinian environment.’ In a news release, the organization said it is representing four Northwestern Law students who alleged they have faced discriminatory practices from fellow students, professors and administrators in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Palestinian students, who were not identified in the release, allege NU has failed to adequately address their safety concerns. According to the release, students have been followed, recorded and subjected to threats of doxxing.
“As law students, our commitment to advocacy is paramount to the careers we are pursuing,” one anonymous complainant said in the release. “Yet those of us advocating for Palestine find ourselves navigating a hostile and unsupportive environment that challenges our fundamental right to education and to speak freely.”
The complaint comes as Israel’s continued ground and air offensive in Gaza has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian authorities. The military campaign follows the militant group Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
“The University and its law school denounce acts of discrimination or harassment, and we will continue to support our students, faculty and staff,” University spokesperson Hilary Hurd Anyaso wrote in an email to the Daily.
Palestine Legal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to an Instagram post from the organization, one of the complainants lost 130 family members in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack, with another six taken as hostages by the Israeli military.
In addition, the release alleges that Pritzker professors have made anti-Palestinian comments, like calling the displacement of Palestinian civilians from Gaza a “two-week vacation” and celebrating the doxxing of pro-Palestine Harvard University students.
The complaint requests that NU take remedial actions for Palestinian students to receive equal services and support.
“If the law school refuses to care about its Palestinian students, we call on federal civil rights officials to ensure their rights are protected,” said Palestine Legal’s Michael Ratner Justice Fellow Rifqa Falaneh in the news release.
