Professor’s Extremist Affiliations Expose Deeper Antisemitism Crisis at Northwestern University

The Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN) is raising urgent concerns over the troubling affiliations of Northwestern University Professor Wendy Pearlman, whose documented involvement with radical movements and exclusionary student groups is now drawing national scrutiny.

Pearlman, a political science professor and former director of the Middle East and North African Studies (MENA) program, serves as faculty advisor to Jewish Voice for Peace at Northwestern (JVPNU).

While branding itself as a “human rights” group, JVPNU bars Zionist Jews from membership and has repeatedly partnered with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJPNU) to advance antisemitic campaigns on campus.

CAAN points to a pattern of behavior by Pearlman that reflects a disturbing alignment with groups connected to terrorism and antisemitic incitement:

• Endorsed Terror-Linked Movements: Pearlman has actively promoted Masar Badil (the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement), which is tied to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Samidoun. Both groups publicly praised Hamas’ October 7th massacre as nothing less than a “glorious” act of resistance.
• Interned with Hamas-Affiliated NGO: Pearlman previously interned with Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based organization with reported links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). She has publicly lauded its leaders as “human rights defenders,” despite the group’s glorification of terror attacks against Israeli civilians.
• Promoted Antisemitic Campus Activity: During the Spring 2024 encampments at Northwestern, Pearlman posted promotional materials supporting JVPNU, SJPNU, and the Education for Justice in Palestine student group (EJPNU) — groups that led coordinated harassment and exclusion efforts against Jewish students.
• Engaged with Extremist Propaganda Platforms: Pearlman gave an interview to Electronic Intifada, a fringe media outlet that described the October 7 attacks as “innovative” and regularly promotes anti-Israel propaganda. She also co-authored statements that downplayed the massacre, framing it as merely “decontextualized,” a term that attempts to obscure the massacre’s brutality.
• Vilified Civil Rights Groups Combating Antisemitism: Pearlman has publicly attacked Jewish organizations such as StandWithUs and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, accusing them of “draconian” behavior in their efforts to confront campus antisemitism.

JVPNU’s constitution requires that faculty advisors must be “Jewish anti-Zionists” — a policy that, according to CAAN, discriminates based on religion, ethnicity, and political beliefs. Such exclusionary criteria may violate multiple federal civil rights laws, including Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and Section 1981 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code, which bars racial and ethnic discrimination in educational and contractual environments.

“Northwestern’s antisemitism crisis is no longer confined to student protests,” CAAN stated. “It is embedded in the curriculum, entrenched in the classroom, sanctioned by faculty leadership, and — according to multiple federal investigations and civil rights complaints — shielded by Northwestern’s senior administration.”

This comes as Northwestern faces multiple federal investigations into its handling of antisemitic harassment and compliance with civil rights law. President Michael Schill is scheduled to testify before Congress on August 5, 2025, as part of an ongoing probe into the university’s failure to protect Jewish students.

Despite growing alarm over her documented associations, President Schill has praised Pearlman in official university communications, including a November 2023 Leadership Note that defended her against criticism.

Pearlman’s alignment with Jewish Voice for Peace should raise alarm across the political and academic spectrum. The group has defended convicted terrorists like Rasmea Odeh, platformed PFLP hijacker Leila Khaled as a guest speaker, equated Gaza with Auschwitz, accused Israel of genocide, and relentlessly campaigns to dismantle the Jewish state through boycotts, arms embargoes, and anti-Zionist indoctrination.

This is not principled activism; it is the normalization of extremism under the banner of social justice. When professors endorse terror-linked ideologies and marginalize Jewish students, it ceases to be a free exchange of ideas — it becomes institutional complicity.

The issue is no longer confined to student activism — it has permeated the faculty, curriculum, and administration. Investigations by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice’s Antisemitism Task Force are now examining the university’s broader failure to uphold civil rights protections.

Northwestern’s apparent tolerance for faculty members who support extremist networks has become a federal concern. As antisemitism surges across American campuses, the imperative for enforcement, transparency, and accountability has never been more urgent.