Facing Pressure From Congress, Northwestern University Quietly Cuts Ties With Al Jazeera

EVANSTON, IL — Northwestern University officials quietly cut ties with Al Jazeera over the summer amid the escalating controversy over the Qatari media network’s criticism of Israel and connections to Hamas.

A decade-old memorandum of understanding between Al Jazeera and Northwestern was terminated in July, university officials recently revealed when questioned.

The agreement had enabled joint research, training workshops and internships with Al Jazeera for students at Northwestern’s Qatar campus.

The move followed mounting pressure from Republican lawmakers, who demanded that the university sever its ties with the network.

Northwestern's ties with the gulf monarchy have faced heightened scrutiny since University President Michael Schill was summoned before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in May to testify about the school's handling of anti-Israel demonstrations on its Evanston campus.

In a June 21 letter to Schill, a quartet of Republican committee members demanded an immediate end to Northwestern’s partnership with Al Jazeera, accusing the network of spreading "pro-Hamas propaganda" and having "members who are terrorists."

The letter cited multiple reports connecting Al Jazeera journalists to Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. and its allies and has ruled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades.

They include allegations that an Al Jazeera journalist had been a "commander in Hamas’s anti-tank missile unit," that another had been the deputy commander of a Hamas platoon and that a freelance journalist published by Al Jazeera had kept hostages in his family's house.

"Unfortunately, this is not the first time Al Jazeera has been connected to terrorists or terrorist organizations," U.S. Reps. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Andrew Ogles (R-Tennessee), Jefferson Van Drew (R-New Jersey) and Elise Stefanik (R-New York) said in the letter, which gave Northwestern until July 19 to respond.

"It is unacceptable for an American university that receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding annually to partner with organizations whose members are terrorists or whose reporting propagandizes on behalf of terrorist organizations," they said.

Al Jazeera has maintained extensive coverage of the ongoing conflict, including reports on casualties and Hamas activities, which has drawn repeated criticism from Israeli government officials.

Last month, Israeli military forces raided and ordered the shutdown of Al Jazeera's office in the West Bank, the first time that Israel has shut down a foreign news outlet within its borders, according to the Associated Press.

The network later aired footage that appeared to show Israeli forces tearing down a banner in its offices depicting Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.

Israeli officials, including Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi, accused the network of being a mouthpiece for Hamas and Hezbollah, while the Foreign Press Association expressed concerns over the implications of the military crackdown for press freedom.

Northwestern still operates a campus in Education City, Qatar, that is 100 percent funded by the Qatar Foundation, a nonprofit led by the ruling family of the emirate. Its contract with the foundation is current due to expire in June 2028.

Known as "NU-Q," students at the university's Qatari campus pay the same tuition of nearly $70,000 a year and receive the same degree, but they face a far different educational environment, according to a Daily Northwestern investigation earlier this year.

The university's memorandum of understanding with Al-Jazeera was announced by then-Al Jazeera Director General Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of the Qatari ruling family. He went on to become the economy minister of the monarchy, which has a population of 3 million people in which more than 88 percent of people do not have citizenship rights.

“Al Jazeera Network places the development of its team’s skills at the top of its priorities, to stay par with the great media-related feats Qatar has accomplished regionally and internationally,” said the sheikh, announcing the memorandum amid the planning for its abortive Al Jazeera America brand.

As part of the deal, students studying journalism at NU-Q got a chance to do residency programs working for the state-owned news network.

The end of the memorandum of understanding was first reported Tuesday by the website Campus Reform.

A university spokesperson told The Daily that NU-Q would still offer "robust opportunities" for its journalism students to work with "many media, strategic communications and other agency partners" despite the end of its deal with Al Jazeera.

Everette Dennis, then the dean and CEO of the university's Qatar-funded venture, said the collaboration would help students learn about public relations, digital media and documentary filmmaking, in addition to working in broadcast news at a network with one of the world's largest teams of journalists.

“That makes Al Jazeera a place of great interest for anyone who strives to understand the world’s media ecosystem," Dennis said, "and for Northwestern students and alumni who will go on to work in the media industry."

Related:

• Prosecutors Drop Charges Northwestern Filed Against Own Staff, Student
• Northwestern Threatened With Subpoena Over 'Obstruction' Of Congressional Committee
• Schill On The Hill: Northwestern President Faces Questioning From Congress
• Northwestern President Faces Resignation Calls, Class Action Lawsuit From Jewish Students