Members announced for President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate

Northwestern has announced the members of the President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate, which will begin work immediately, President Michael Schill wrote today in a message to the University community.

In the update in November announcing the launch of the committee, he said members would be selected to represent a diverse set of Northwestern perspectives and include faculty, staff, students, alumni and trustees.

“Consistent with Northwestern’s commitment to provide a safe, welcoming environment in which to learn and work, the Advisory Committee will provide guidance and advice to the President and Provost to help ensure that the entire University community stands for learning, civil discourse and informed dialogue on even the most intractable conflicts, and that our students, faculty and staff can work together and engage in debate and discussion without fear of harassment or intimidation,” Schill wrote.

The committee will be led by co-chairs Efraim Benmelech, Henry Bullock Professor of Finance and Real Estate and director of the Crown Family Israel Center for Innovation in the Kellogg School of Management, and Bryan Brayboy, Carlos Montezuma Professor of Education and Social Policy and dean of the School of Education and Social Policy.

Committee members are:

• Emily Babb, associate vice president for civil rights and Title IX compliance
• Lily Cohen, student
• Mona Dugo, assistant vice president of wellness and dean of students
• Martin Eichenbaum, Charles Moskos Professor of Economics
• Tarek Elmasry, trustee
• Daniel Greene, adjunct professor of history
• Philip Greenland, Harry W. Dingman Professor of Cardiology and professor of preventive medicine
• Reema Habiby, associate professor of pediatrics
• Mahdi Haseeb, student
• Heidi Kitrosser, William W. Gurley Professor of Law
• Nour Kteily, professor of management and organizations and co-director of the Dispute Resolution Research Center
• Robert Launay, professor of anthropology
• Paula Pretlow, trustee
• Michael Simon, executive director of Northwestern Hillel
• Jessica Winegar, professor and the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Chair in Middle Eastern Studies
• Clyde Yancy, Magerstadt Professor of Medicine and vice dean for diversity and inclusion

“We will help create the conditions for members of our community to thrive without fear of hate or violence (both physical and psychological). We are especially committed to ensuring that students at Northwestern are free to learn, grow, develop and pursue their interests in ways that are both serious and joyful,” Benmelech and Brayboy wrote in an introductory letter to the community.

The committee will meet with various constituencies on campus to assess the climate with respect to antisemitism and other forms of hate including Islamophobia, advise the president and provost on issues related to safety and, when relevant, make recommendations to enhance protection. It will also recommend a series of educational and institutional interventions that place the well-being of students at the core of the institution, President Schill wrote. “We will work toward building responses, educative and student- and employee-focused, to create an environment on campus where ideas can be vigorously debated without fear of hate-based retribution.”

Updates from the co-chairs and other information about and from the committee will be available online. Members of the Northwestern community are invited to send questions and comments to presidentsadvisorycommittee@northwestern.edu.

“Together, we can and will build a more inclusive Northwestern that rejects hate in all its forms,” President Schill wrote. “For us to continue as one of the very best research universities in the world and grow even further in eminence and impact, we must exercise mutual respect as we engage in the challenging dialogue that is essential for individual growth and understanding.”

Read President Schill’s complete message to the community on Leadership Notes.