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Justice Department says it’s investigating the university’s handling of antisemitism
The U.S. Department of Justice recently launched an investigation into antisemitism at the University of Washington Seattle amid ongoing conflicts over a pro-Palestinian student group and the recent cancellation of an event with Miss Israel Noa Cochva.
University spokesperson Victor Balta told The College Fix that the university is committed to cooperating with the department in its review, and the pro-Palestinian student group Students United For Palestinian Equality and Return, or SUPER UW, is no longer affiliated with the university.
“That group’s registration was suspended in June 2024 and permanently revoked in May 2025. The University of Washington strongly and unequivocally opposes antisemitism in all forms,” Balta said in a recent email.
Last week, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon announced the antisemitism investigation in a post on X. Dhillon pointed to SUPER UW’s plans to host an off-campus fundraising event on April 21 for the “Lebanese resistance.”
“This group has a history of violent antisemitic activity on University of Washington’s campus,” Dhillon wrote.
The group’s fundraising event, advertised on its Instagram page, included screening “The Last Sky,” a documentary “about the Gazan Genocide” from the “perspective of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.” SUPER UW did not respond to a request for comment on the federal investigation via social media.
Referencing Dhillon’s post, the University of Washington spokesman told The Fix that the pro-Palestinian group’s use of the UW initials gives the false impression that it is still affiliated with the university.
“The off-campus event referenced publicly appears to have been organized by a group falsely claiming affiliation with the University of Washington,” Balta said.
He said the university notified Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, last year that SUPER UW is “unauthorized” to use the university name on social media. He said Meta recently refused to fix the issue, so the university is appealing.
Additionally, last week, around the same time as the news of the federal investigation broke, SUPER began publicizing plans to protest an on-campus event with Noa Cochva, Miss Israel and a former combat medic in the Israeli military.
“Genociders out of Seattle and off our campus!!!” the group wrote on Instagram, calling Cochva a “genocidal war criminal.”
Organizers with Stand With Us later canceled the event due to security concerns, The Daily, UW’s student newspaper, reported.
Randy Kessler, executive director of Stand With Us Northwest, commented on the decision to cancel in a statement emailed to The Fix.
“… when we realized that terror supporters would be at UW, looking to disrupt proceedings and potentially harm us, we made the bold decision not to attend and let them waste their time and energy,” Kessler stated.
The pro-Israel organization also welcomed the federal investigation in a statement shared with The Fix.
“When protests cross into glorifying terror groups tied to violence against Jews, including Hezbollah flags, it stops being free speech and creates a hostile environment for Jewish students. Campuses must be places of learning, not intimidation,” the statement read.
Pro-Palestinian students, including the Democratic Socialist of America, did protest Cochva’s planned speaking event around 11 a.m. April 21 on the university’s Red Square, according to an X post by UW Jewish Alumni.
The Daily reported that there were around 60 participants. However, when The Fix’s reporter walked through Red Square around 12 p.m., the protest was either disbanded or had moved.
Meanwhile, SUPER UW leaders celebrated the cancelation of Miss Israel’s talk, calling it a victory for their cause.
“This is what we came here to do,” spokesperson Noah Weight told The Daily, “to demand that our campuses and our cities are not used as bases to promote the genocidal, Zionist lies of these soldiers who have spent the last three years killing Palestinians in Gaza.”
Seattle talk show host Ari Hoffman, who had Noa Cochva on his The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, criticized university leaders for not disciplining the student protesters who were calling for violence.
“[T]hey marched with Hamas, Hezbollah, and PFLP flags through Red Square, calling for the deaths of Jews,” Hoffman told The Fix via email. “By not punishing their behavior, they are emboldened to become more violent and they will continue to target Jewish students and faculty on campus.”
Hoffman also alluded to a 2025 incident where pro-Palestinian students caused massive damages to the engineering building on campus. SUPER UW, which was involved in the protest, later posted photos of the vandalism on its Instagram account.
“23 students who were involved in causing over $1 million in damage to a brand new engineering building on the UW campus were let off with a slap on the wrist and are now back on campus,” Hoffman said in an email to The Fix on April 23.
However, a campus free speech group criticized the federal investigation.
“Holding UW responsible for the actions of an off-campus group would stretch federal civil rights law far past its lawful bounds,” Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression Lead Counsel for Government Affairs Tyler Coward said in a statement online.
“The federal government is not empowered to demand universities serve as roving monitors of private off-campus expression…” he said.
MORE: No charges months after anti-Israel protest caused $1 million in damages at U. Washington
