Last month, Northwestern University barred some students from enrolling in Fall classes citing their refusal to take antisemitism training. While it’s good to see the school taking antisemitism seriously, if they really wanted to change the culture of their student body, they should start by looking at what professors they keep on the roster.

A recent report from the Middle East Forum identifies a startling trend: Northwestern University is retaining staff with proven ties to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations like Hamas.

Most notably, Ibrahim Abusharif, a professor at NU-Q, acted as co-founder, editor, and treasurer of the Quranic Literacy Institute, an organization that served as a money laundering pathway for Hamas. The report also alleges that Khaled Al-Hroub, another NU-Q faculty member, appeared on a panel alongside Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and participated in an event with PFLP figure Leila Khaled. 

It further notes that in October 2023, Al-Hroub called for a “third intifada in the West Bank” to “sweep away the occupier,” and characterized reports of Hamas atrocities on October 7 as part of a “demonization campaign against Hamas and Palestinians.”

Northwestern University has extended Professor Mkhaimar Abusada's contract through August 2026, despite evidence from the Free Beacon documenting his direct connections to Hamas and PFLP, including face-to-face meetings with Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar. His position at Northwestern's Buffett Institute stems from the Deering Meadow Agreement, partially negotiated by Professor Jessica Winegar, who has maintained ties with Qatar's government since 2012. Concurrently, Abusada holds a position at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, where IDF forces reportedly discovered Hamas tunnels, weapons caches, and rocket launchers.

These entrenched anti-American and anti-western elements in our education system are deeply troubling. American parents and taxpayer dollars are paying for terrorist affiliates and sympathizers to teach the next generation. This is a norm that must be reversed.

In the last decade, organizations exposing leftist bias on campuses such as the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA have illuminated the Left-leaning bias that is so prevalent in higher education. To some degree, the American public is well aware of how this has created an inherently anti-American atmosphere. 

But it’s worse than we realize. These environments aren’t just anti-American spheres of learning, they’re pro-terror incubators. 

College classrooms are no longer filled with the progressives of the past, who demonstrated their displeasure with society by not shaving and hoisting “make love not war” posters. Campus activists today are violently radical. And unlike the hippies of the American past who truly were anti-establishment, the radicalism of 2025 universities is institutionalized, but being shaped by foreign powers with a dark agenda.

The new radicals are not anti-government or anti-establishment; they are still beholden to “the man”; that man just goes by Ayatollah rather than Uncle Sam. 

Anti-western powerhouses are exploiting the American principle of freedom of expression to spread dangerous ideologies on college campuses that are antithetical to such freedom. 

Slogans like “resistance is justified when people are occupied” and “resistance by any means necessary” were commonly displayed and chanted in the pro-Hamas encampments that took over swaths of universities the past few semesters. We saw school staff and students physically assaulted by protestors on multiple occasions, students blocked from attending classes, and clashes with police and even military units. 

This is abominable. Current college students deserve healthy and safe learning environments. But this is the natural result of educational institutions employing professors who actively or tangentially support this type of violence themselves. 

Parents should be angry. Students should be angry. The American public should be angry. 

Professors and universities have an obligation to teach the next generation of American students, not to encourage foreign student activists who criticize American ideals while enjoying the fruits of its labors. It's about time they did their job.  

Chloe Sparwath is a graduate of the University of Virginia, with a degree in foreign affairs and history. She is the Congressional Affairs Coordinator for the Israel Allies Foundation. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is active in her church. She writes on antisemitism, Israel, and Jewish-Christian relations. You can follow her on Substack, Twitter, and Instagram @chloeswannn.

Image: Ted Eytan