CHICAGO — Steven Thrasher filed a federal lawsuit on July 16, 2026, against Northwestern University and top federal officials, alleging his tenure denial and pending termination were retaliatory actions taken in response to his pro-Palestinian activism and protected speech. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, names as defendants Northwestern University, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Rep. Tim Walberg.

Thrasher, a journalist hired by Northwestern University in 2019 as an assistant journalism professor and the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg Chair of Social Justice in Reporting, alleges that his tenure was denied due to pressure from federal agencies over his political speech supporting Palestine. According to the complaint, Medill School of Journalism Dean Charles Whitaker informed Thrasher in March 2025 that his tenure bid had failed on an 8-8 vote by the Medill Promotion and Tenure Committee. Thrasher further alleges that Northwestern refused him access to a full internal appeal of that decision.

The lawsuit contends that Thrasher’s professional penalties—including suspension from teaching, a criminal complaint against him, and imminent termination scheduled for next month—stem directly from his public advocacy. In spring 2024, Thrasher attempted to block police from dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment on Northwestern’s campus, an action that led to a scuffle with university officers. That incident prompted the House Education and Workforce Committee, chaired by Rep. Tim Walberg, to write in 2024 to then-Northwestern President Michael Schill criticizing his refusal to confirm whether Thrasher remained on the teaching roster.

Thrasher’s legal complaint includes 12 counts, among them First Amendment retaliation and discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, and association with Palestinians. He seeks reinstatement to a tenure-track position or, alternatively, monetary compensation equal to the wages and benefits he would have earned over his academic career. The suit also asks the court to invalidate any part of Northwestern’s settlement with the Trump administration that requires the university to suppress campus speech on Palestine and to prohibit the named federal officials from pressuring Northwestern to suspend or terminate faculty members.

"Defendants robbed Dr. Thrasher of his successful academic career and livelihood because of a joint project of Northwestern and elements of the federal government to manufacture consent for their participation in the Zionist colonial project in Palestine," Thrasher’s lawyers stated in the complaint. The lawsuit frames the tenure denial and termination not as academic judgments but as coordinated acts of political retaliation involving both university leadership and federal actors.

The case raises questions about academic freedom, federal influence over private university personnel decisions, and the boundaries of protected political speech in higher education. Thrasher’s position as holder of an endowed chair in social justice reporting at a major U.S. journalism school amplifies concerns about institutional autonomy under political pressure. Northwestern University, a private institution in Evanston, Illinois, has declined to address the specific allegations, stating only that it does not comment on pending litigation.