Trump admin should probe Northwestern U over Qatar contract, Brandeis Center says

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Northwestern University's $737 million contract with the Qatar Foundation, alleging violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The center's letter, sent Friday, claims the agreement limits speech on both the university's Qatar and U.S. campuses, citing former university president Michael Schill's August 2025 testimony to the House Education and Workforce Committee. The contract reportedly stipulates that the university "shall be subject to the applicable laws and regulations of the State of Qatar, and shall respect the cultural, religious and social customs of the State of Qatar."

• The center highlighted that after the October 7, 2023, attacks, Qatar Foundation staffers sent emails to the dean of Northwestern's Qatar campus with talking points regarding "diplomatic role and mediation efforts in Palestine/Gaza and Afghanistan."
• A March House Education and Workforce Committee report noted the Qatar Foundation instructed universities, including Northwestern, to send "any communications received, or proposed to be sent to government entities" to the foundation first.
• The university's Qatar campus also hosted an event featuring a professor who "glorifies Hamas" on a panel titled "Hamas and the Framing of Terrorism" shortly after October 7.

Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, stated, "Academic freedom and the civil rights of students, faculty members and their families should never be beholden to the purse strings of a foreign government."