Apr 21, 2026 minute read

The University of Washington is facing a new federal civil rights investigation as scrutiny intensifies over its handling of antisemitism on campus, much of it tied to a student group already at the center of multiple controversies and responsible for causing over $1 million in damage to the campus.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant US attorney general for civil rights, announced Monday that the Department of Justice has authorized an investigation into UW, citing concerns over the university’s response to anti-Jewish hostility. Among the issues flagged: the ongoing activities of Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER UW), a suspended student group with a growing record of destructive actions supporting terrorist organizations.

Dhillon specifically pointed to a planned “Fundraiser for Lebanon” organized by SUPER UW alongside Seattle University’s Students for Justice in Palestine and the Seattle Palestine Action Network. Promotional materials for the event call on supporters to “raise funds to materially support… the Lebanese resistance,” a phrase commonly associated with Hezbollah, a US-designated terrorist organization.

“With the recent escalated attacks on Lebanon, it is a crucial time to raise funds to materially support as well as deepen our understandings of the Lebanese resistance,” organizers wrote. The fundraiser, scheduled to include a screening of The Last Sky, comes amid broader concerns about the group’s rhetoric and actions. Dhillon said SUPER UW “has a history of violent antisemitic activity on the University of Washington’s campus.”

That history includes the May 2025 takeover of UW’s newly opened Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, where activists caused more than $1 million in damage. Protesters barricaded exits, trapped a university employee inside, and set fires outside the building before police cleared the site and arrested 33 individuals.

Despite the scale of the destruction, those arrested ultimately faced only misdemeanor trespass charges. Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to pursue felony charges, citing a lack of surveillance footage, eyewitness accounts, and usable forensic evidence. Roughly two dozen students tied to the incident were suspended but have since been allowed to return to campus.

SUPER UW has remained active despite its suspension, resurfacing in public demonstrations and organizing events on campus, including fundraising efforts and collaborations with other activist groups in the Seattle area. Members of the group also took part in a riot targeting a Jewish fundraiser in Seattle, according to posts from the group itself.

The University of Washington is currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice for potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act related to antisemitic harassment and discrimination on campus. At the same time, the university has faced financial pressures tied to policy shifts at the federal level and budget constraints at the state level.

The federal investigation comes just weeks after UW President Robert Jones held a town hall at an Orthodox synagogue focused on addressing antisemitism on campus.