In a briefing for the House Education & Workforce Committee on his response to the anti-Israel protest encampment at Northwestern University in 2024, Evanston, Ill., Mayor Daniel Biss “severely downplayed” the situation on that campus and antisemitism across the country, the committee said.

The committee asked Biss, who is a congressional candidate in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), to brief them on his decision to withhold Evanston police support from Northwestern University when requested by the school to help clear the encampment.

The lack of external law enforcement support prompted Northwestern to make a deal, widely criticized in the Jewish community, with the encampment members to disband voluntarily, according to internal Northwestern communications released by the committee.

“In his briefing with the Committee today, Mr. Biss severely downplayed antisemitism at Northwestern after October 7th. He told the Committee that the great majority of his Jewish friends in the Northwestern community had no concerns about it,” a committee spokesperson told Jewish Insider.

That’s at odds with comments from Jewish Northwestern community members and local Jewish groups about the encampment.

“He further stated that Northwestern should not have received an F on the Anti-Defamation League’s college report card. He even accused the Committee of alarmism that is not warranted by the facts when it comes to antisemitism at the university after the October 7th attacks,” the spokesperson continued. “The countless Jewish Northwestern students, faculty, and community members that the Committee has interviewed would say otherwise.”

The school reached an agreement with the Department of Justice last year, paying $75 million and making policy changes to address antisemitism on its campus.

Biss, meanwhile, has dismissed the committee’s questioning of him as a smear campaign orchestrated by AIPAC and one of his primary opponents, state Sen. Laura Fine, to hurt his congressional campaign.

“From the start, this ‘briefing’ was a flimsy attempt to weaponize the very real threat of antisemitism to attack me and support my opponent. It failed,” Biss said in a statement. 

“I’m proud of my record of protecting peaceful protest and combating antisemitism, including my decision to decline the unnecessary and undemocratic request to clear the Northwestern encampment in 2024. As the Trump administration increasingly attacks our fundamental democratic rights, it’s more important than ever to back our commitment to peaceful protest with action. I hope the committee learned something today.”

Biss’ campaign also noted that only House staff attended the briefing, rather than lawmakers themselves.