Northeastern University is a private academic institution located between the Boston neighborhoods of Roxbury and Back Bay. Northeastern is highly complicity in Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland and theft of Palestinian resources, as well as in US Imperialism, US violence against migrants, and the Displacement of Black and Brown community members from the Boston area (through what is often known as 'gentrification').

Support for Israel

Northeastern University runs multiple study abroad partnerships, summer programs, and student coops (undergraduate experiential learning programs) in Israel (see: here and here). Northeastern University maintains a very active and strictly Zionist campus Hillel, which encourages NEU students to travel to Israel, and directs NEU students toward paid internships and fellowships with local Zionist propaganda and lobbying organizations including Camera on Campus, StandWithUs, the Israel on Campus Coalition, and the Jewish National Fund (JNF). One of these groups, the NEU's chapter of Camera on Campus, is a student-run group tied to the parent organization CAMERA (see entry on CAMERA). In collaboration with campus pro-Israel group "Huskies for Israel," CAMERA provides pro-Israel "direction" to NU students, identifying guest speakers, suggesting events, and generally advising students on how to propagandize for Israel on the NEU campus. CAMERA also sponsors and funds CAMERA Fellows at NEU, students who receive stipends from CAMERA for duties including "regular monitoring of the campus media, classrooms/professors, and anti-Israel events; attend Israel-related events, take notes, and ask questions during the event." Publicly listed CAMERA fellows at Northeastern University have included Elie Codron (2020-2021), Harrison Garcia (2020-2021), Matthew Blicher (2021-2022), Jacob Egelberg (2021-2022). (See updated list of CAMERA campuses and current CAMERA campus fellows here.)

In March of 2014, Northeastern University suspended the NEU student group Northeastern Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and permanently banned student members of NUSJP from holding positions in recognized student organizations. Northeastern University also threatened to expel two women of color members of NUSJP from the university entirely. Northeastern University's move to suspend the club and threat to expel two of its student members came after a long pressure campaign against Northeastern University SJP, which was led by a number of campus and community Zionist organizations, including NEU Hillel, American's for Peace and Tolerance, The Zionist Organization of America, and the Anti-Defamation League (see: here and here). 

In November 2021, the Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs hosted a panel titled “Repairing a Divided America: Blacks, Jews and the Future of American Coalitions.” Josh Kraft, President of Kraft Family Philanthropies (see entry on Kraft Family Philanthropies), along with Former New England Patriot were featured on the panel. The first 30 minutes of the panel featured stories from the former NFL player about a recent propaganda trip to Israel he attended. Contrary to this panel's stated intention of "repairing" the "divide" between Black and Jewish Americans, Northeastern University Hillel protested renowned Black civil rights activist and former political prisoner Angela Davis's invitation to speak on the NEU campus in the same year (2021), due to Davis's solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

Northeastern University also hosts a chapter of TAMID Group. TAMID Group is a national Zionist organization which describe themselves as "a comprehensive business and technology group that uses Israel as an economic lens to consult leading companies on the forefront of innovation," and which directs students toward programs which provide "Experiential Learning Through Business in Israel." TAMID provides multiple opportunities for students to support and connect with Israel, including the TAMID Fellowship (an eight-week business internship in Israel), TAMID Consulting (in which student teams work to remotely solve "challenging" business problems for Israeli companies), and the TAMID Investment Fund (in which students participate in a competitions with students on other campuses, managing an investment portfolio made up of Israeli companies). By directing Northeastern students to these programs, TAMID is part of the broader Israeli state-led propaganda effort which aims to brand Israel as a "start-up nation" and a hub of "innovation" and "entrepreneurship in order to whitewash over the realities of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland and theft of Palestinian resources. TAMID Group was fully funded by the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) until March 2018. Current board members of NEU's chapter of TAMID group as listed on their website include: Curtis Fisher, Marc Bacvanski, Daniel Blundin, Sophie Stevens, Josh Glickman, Ash Vytheswaran, Spencer Belsky, Jeffrey Wallace, Courtney Lee, Madison Taylor, Rahul Mamtora, Miriam Lorber, Michelle Mirkin, and Allie Rozenblyum.

Support for US Tracking, Detention, and Deportation of Migrants

Northeastern University is the lead university participating in ALERT ("Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats"), a consortium of nine universities and industry partners who receive grants and other support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct "research, technology and educational development" for DHS. According to an annual report on the program, ALERT supports DHS to "quickly adapt to new research and education priorities related to the daunting mission of DHS to protect our nation from terrorist threats." ALERT includes educational programming targeted to "pre-college, undergraduate, graduate and career professional components" respectively, and includes "High-Tech Tools and Toys Lab," "an Engineering Leadership Program focusing on Department of Homeland Security Topics," and "workshops and short courses" for students. Alongside participating universities, Massachusetts-based weapons manufacturer Raytheon is one of the local industry partners in the ALERT consortium.

Northeastern University's position as the lead university of ALERT has given rise to numerous collaborations between Northeastern and DHS, including collaborations between Northeastern and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (ICE is a sub-agency within DHS). One of these collaborations is the Border Enforcement Analytics Program (BEAP), a program within the Northeastern University's Institute for Security and Public Policy (ISPP), which, according to the NEU ISPP website, aims to "provide advanced computing and analytic solutions that enable Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to effectively combine and analyze multiple, large disparate data sets to increase enforcement effectiveness." Additionally, Glenn Pierce who is the director of the Northeastern Institute of Security and Public Policy (ISPP) received more than $2.7 million from US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) from 2016-18, as part of a research contract between NEU's Institute of Security and Public Policy and US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). Pierce's contract with ICE elicited outrage and repeated protests from NEU students and Boston area immigrant community leaders.

In November 2021, Northeastern University won a $36 million contract from DHS to build a surveillance system called SENTRY (Soft target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality). The system promises to turn schools, sporting events, and city spaces into a panopticon that will "integrate elements such as crowd-scanning sensors mounted atop light poles, video feeds, cell phone traffic, aerial drone footage, and social media posts." Eleven other universities will be involved in the development of SENTRY, including Boston University and Tufts University locally. Weapons manufacturer Raytheon and the military R&D firm Draper Labs will be on the advisory board of the project. 

Leaders of ALERT and SENTRY include Michael Silevitch (Director) and Carey Rappaport (Deputy Director), both of whom are professors of engineering at NEU.

Support for the US Military

In 2018, Northeastern University's Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security in Burlington, MA became the host site of a U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL). As reported in the Woburn-based Daily Times Chronicle:

[On] a 14-acre parcel off South Bedford Road, situated not far from the Woburn line and just a few miles away from the Burlington Mall, the U.S. Army's best and brightest intend to wipe away any and all enemy advantages by creating the world's most formidable technological partnership. 

Earlier this month, a host of dignitaries descended upon Northeastern University's George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security to formalize a unique collaboration between academia, tech companies, and the defense department's U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

Within the secretive 70,000 square foot facility, where researchers are already experimenting with drones, explosive and force-resistant building materials, and nanotechnology or microscopic robotics and electronics, the ARL plans to house its northeastern regional partnership headquarters.

In the undertaking, staff from the ARL's 3,000-plus strong civilian and military workforce will labor directly alongside some of the state's preeminent university and corporate researchers to move innovations in the laboratory directly to those serving on the battlefield.

(See also entry on Northeastern University's George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security)

Moreover, Northeastern University has hosted weapons company Raytheon at its February 2022 STEM career fair. During this career fair, Raytheon promoted both a job opening and a coop (undergraduate experiential learning programs) to NEU students. Raytheon is itself deeply complicit in Israeli military violence, the death and destruction wrought by US imperialism, and the US government's regime of tracking, detention, and deportation of Black and Brown migrants (see entry on Raytheon). Northeastern University also hosted military Research & Development firm MIT Lincoln Labs at NEU's February 2022 STEM Career fair. MIT Lincoln Labs is highly complicit in US imperialism (see entry on MIT Lincoln Labs).

Complicity in displacement ("gentrification") in Boston

The Northeastern campus occupies 73 acres of real estate in and near the historically Black Boston neighborhood of Roxbury. The land Northeastern owns along with the structures built upon it are collectively valued at $2.34 billion (see: MassGIS statewide parcels dataset, 2021). By gobbling up real estate and bringing students, faculty, and researchers into the area who are, on average, wealthier and whiter than pre-existing residents, NEU bears considerable responsibility the ongoing rise in area housing, rental, and living costs (see imager below), which is leaving residents of Roxbury and other nearby neighborhoods increasingly unable to afford to remain in the homes and communities they have called home for years if not decades.

(Image source: here)

A 2014 article in The Baffler further explains:

Nearly all the Innovation Economy construction has simply added to the region’s phalanx of luxury homes, condominiums, towers, laboratories, auditoriums, and office parks. The capital investment in the machinery of invention (filtered through the region’s tax-exempt colleges, hospitals, and institutes) is staggering" [and includes] $225 million for Northeastern University’s science and research center ... "We think of Boston as one large campus," Northeastern president Joseph E. Aoun told the Boston Globe.

Adding insult to injury, Northeastern University also happily hosted the Boston city agency most responsible for displacement through gentrification, the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), at NEU's Spring 2022 Northeastern University career fair. Formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the BPDA has repeatedly created and approved rezoning plans which have opened Boston communities up to new luxury housing and commercial developments, driving lower income and predominantly Black and Brown community members out of the neighborhoods they helped build and evoking frequent protests from impacted community members (See entry on the City of Boston for more information on BPDA).

19 links

1. Financial Support – Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP)

From fiscal years 2007-2020, Combined Jewish Philanthropies funneled $1,159,795 from its donors to Northeastern University, as well as $691,210 to Northeastern University Hillel, and $17,100 to Northeastern University School of Law.

Moreover, the IACT (Inspired, Active, Committed and Transformed) program, which operates on the Northeastern University campus, received $7,004,000 from Combined Jewish Philanthropies in fiscal year 2020 alone. CJP designed IACT to “strengthen and transform Jewish life and Israel advocacy on campuses through the expansion of Birthright Israel and the active engagement of Birthright Israel participants in new programs." WickedLocal reports that as of 2020, "The program, currently at 29 local Hillels around the country, supports a coordinator on each campus dedicated to recruiting students for Birthright Israel trips and inspiring them to become active in Jewish life and Israel activities once back on campus."

2. Partnership/Ownership/Membership – Department of Homeland Security

Beginning at least as far back as 2006, Northeastern University has entered into contracts with the Department of Homeland Security, receiving tens of millions of dollars from multiple projects supporting DHS missions (listed below). In 2008, DHS partnered with Northeastern University in launching the Center for Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats (ALERT) as a designated "DHS Center of Excellence"--part of a nationwide project partnering with Universities to conduct research and develop technologies in support of DHS missions. Other local universities participate with the Center include Boston University and Tufts, and local industry partners of the Center include Massachusetts-based weapons developer Raytheon.

Northeastern University projects funded by DHS have included the following: $2,287,099, "wide area surveillance and suicide bomber detection at greater than 10 meters (BOMDETEC)" (2006-2010); $2,141,294, "exploratory methods mapping (EMM) process services for big data sets" (ICE contract, 2016-2018); $2,000,000, "novel technologies and processes to support interdiction of illicit materials task order ... (ALERT) Center of Excellence (COE) Northeastern University" (2020-2022); $1,945,000, "enhanced trace explosives detection under the Northeastern University Center of Excellence BOA" (2020-2022); $1,882,167, "launch Center for Resilience Studies Network (CRS-NET) to directly support DHS in informing and advancing the capacity for lifeline infrastructures to be better prepared for, to rapidly recover from, and to adapt to natural and man-made disasters" (2015-2018); $1,373,417, "the Explosives Center of Excellence (COE) at Northeastern University (ALERT) ... new task order is for advanced algorithm reconstruction research" (2012-2013); $1,234,221, "research and development of algorithms for improved image quality for checkpoint explosive detection systems" (2016-2018); $1,221,198, "explosives detection project: improved millimeter wave radar advanced imaging technology (AIT) characterization of concealed low-contrast body-bourne threats project activity: integrated passenger screening systems/ eye safe trace detection performer" (2015-2108); $1,203,041, "standardization of procedures and methodology to measure trace explosives sampling efficiency and baseline performance" (2015-2017); $1,140,000, "task order for advanced automatic threat recognition (ATR)" (2012-2015); $1,025,000, "advanced algorithms for explosives detection equipment project" (2010-2011); $690,000, "novel features and emerging technologies for opioid detection project" (2019-2021); $650,000, "comprehensive database of contact explosives sampling efficiency and baseline performance" (2019-2022); $198,754, "support services to assist in development of counter proliferations investigations fusion center" (2010-2012); $156,616, "investigate challenges and barriers that are disincentives for investing post-disaster recovery funds" (2014-2016).

Of particular note, in November 2021, Northeastern won a $36 million contract from DHS to build a surveillance system called SENTRY (Soft target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat RealitY). The system promises to turn schools, sporting events and city spaces into a panopticon that will "integrate elements such as crowd-scanning sensors mounted atop light poles, video feeds, cell phone traffic, aerial drone footage, and social media posts." Eleven other universities will be involved in the SENTRY project, including Boston University and Tufts University. MA-based weapons developer Raytheon as well as the MA-based military R&D lab Draper will be on the project's advisory board. SENTRY is being established as yet another DHS "Center of Excellence."

3. Association/Collaboration – Draper Laboratory

Northeastern University is one of the "participating universities" in the "Draper Scholar Program," through which Draper hosts 50+ graduate-level students per year in research fellowships wherein these students "conduct their research under the supervision of both a university faculty advisor and a Draper technical staff supervisor in an area of mutual interest."

In November 2021, Northeastern won a $36 million contract from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build a surveillance system called SENTRY (Soft Target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality). The system promises to turn schools, sporting events and city spaces into a panopticon that will "integrate elements such as crowd-scanning sensors mounted atop light poles, video feeds, cell phone traffic, aerial drone footage, and social media posts." Draper Labs is on the advisory board of the SENTRY project.

4. Financial Support – Fidelity Charitable

In fiscal year 2019 alone, Fidelity Charitable funneled $1,465,149 from its donors into Northeastern University.

5. Association/Collaboration – Israel Summit at Harvard

Northeastern University was one of the universities that participated in The Israel Summit in 2021.

6. Association/Collaboration – Kraft Family Philanthropies

In November 2021, Kraft Family Philanthropies and their "Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism" partnered with the Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs to host a panel entitled “Repairing a Divided America: Blacks (sic), Jews and the Future of American Coalitions.” A transparent effort to combat growing solidarity between the Black and Palestinian liberation struggles, this panel featured Kraft Family Philanthropies President Josh Kraft, Former New England Patriot Andre Tippett, former Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim, and Boston Globe Columnist Adrian Walker. 

As reported by Mondoweiss, "For the first 30 minutes of the event, an audience of mostly white students were regaled with awesome tales of the Kraft Foundations program to send [New England] Patriots players to Israel." Panelist and former New England Patriots player Andre Tippett participated in one such propaganda trip to Israel sponsored by Kraft Family Philanthropies, while Tippett's co-panelist and former Boston city councilor Josh Zakim had himself attended an all expenses-paid "study tour" (propaganda junket) to Israel coordinated by the Jewish Community relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Boston. Contrary to the panel's stated intention of "repairing" the "divide" between "Blacks" (sic) and Jewish Americans, pro-Israel students at Northeastern University wasted no time following the panel to lash out against renowned Black civil rights activist Angela Davis, upon learning that Davis had been invited to speak on the NEU campus.

7. Partnership/Ownership/Membership – U.S. Army in Massachusetts

In 2018, Northeastern University's Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security in Burlington, MA became the host site of a U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL). As reported in the Woburn-based Daily Times Chronicle:

[On] a 14-acre parcel off South Bedford Road, situated not far from the Woburn line and just a few miles away from the Burlington Mall, the U.S. Army's best and brightest intend to wipe away any and all enemy advantages by creating the world's most formidable technological partnership. 

Earlier this month, a host of dignitaries descended upon Northeastern University's George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security to formalize a unique collaboration between academia, tech companies, and the defense department's U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

Within the secretive 70,000 square foot facility, where researchers are already experimenting with drones, explosive and force-resistant building materials, and nanotechnology or microscopic robotics and electronics, the ARL plans to house its northeastern regional partnership headquarters.

In the undertaking, staff from the ARL's 3,000-plus strong civilian and military workforce will labor directly alongside some of the state's preeminent university and corporate researchers to move innovations in the laboratory directly to those serving on the battlefield.

8. Partnership/Ownership/Membership – Police Executive Research Forum

 Dr. Jack McDevitt, Professor of the Practice in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, serves on the Research Advisory Board of the Police Executive Research Forum. 

9. Association/Collaboration – Elbit Systems

At least one student from Northeastern University has completed a co-op (undergraduate experiential learning program) at Elbit Systems of America's site in Merrimack, NH.

10. Association/Collaboration – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Northeastern University is the lead University participating in ALERT ("Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats"), a consortium of nine universities and industry partners who receive grants and other support from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct "research, technology and educational development" for DHS. According to an annual report on the program, ALERT supports DHS to "quickly adapt to new research and education priorities related to the daunting mission of DHS to protect our nation from terrorist threats." ALERT includes educational programming targeted to "pre-college, undergraduate, graduate and career professional components" respectively, and includes "High-Tech Tools and Toys Lab," "an Engineering Leadership Program focusing on Department of Homeland Security Topics," and "workshops and short courses." 

Northeastern's position as the lead university of ALERT has given rise to numerous contracts and collaborations between NEU and US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including collaborations between NEU and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE being a sub-agency within DHS. One of these collaborations is the Border Enforcement Analytics Program (BEAP), a program within the Northeastern University Institute for Security and Public Policy (ISPP), which according to the NEU ISPP website, aims to "provide advanced computing and analytic solutions that enable Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to effectively combine and analyze multiple, large disparate data sets to increase enforcement effectiveness." In another such collaboration between NEU and ICE, Glenn Pierce director of the Northeastern Institute of Security and Public Policy (ISPP) received more than $2.7 million from US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) from 2016-18, as part of a research contract between NEU's Institute of Security and Public Policy and US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE). The contract elicited outrage and protests in 2018 from Northeastern students and other community members.

11. Association/Collaboration – City of Boston

Northeastern University hosted the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) at NEU's Spring 2022 general career fair. Formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the BPDA is an agency within the Boston city government which has repeatedly created and approved zoning plans which have opened Boston communities up for new market-rate, luxury, and commercial development, driving Black and Brown working class community members out of the neighborhoods they have lived in for years if not decades and evoking frequent protests. (See entry on the City of Boston for more information on BPDA.)

12. Association/Collaboration – Raytheon

In 2008, The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) partnered with Northeastern University to launch ALERT ("Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats"), a consortium of nine universities and industry partners who receive grants and other support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct "research, technology and educational development" for DHS. Massachusetts-based weapons manufacturer Raytheon is one of the local industry partners in the ALERT consortium.

In November 2021, Northeastern University won a $36 million contract from DHS to build a surveillance system called SENTRY (Soft target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality). The system promises to turn schools, sporting events, and city spaces into a panopticon that will "integrate elements such as crowd-scanning sensors mounted atop light poles, video feeds, cell phone traffic, aerial drone footage, and social media posts." Raytheon is on the advisory board of Northeastern's SENTRY project.

Northeastern hosted weapons company Raytheon at NEU's February 2022 STEM career fair. During this career fair, Raytheon promoted both a job opening and a coop (undergraduate experiential learning program).

Northeastern University also honors Raytheon through the "Raytheon Amphitheater," a large facility within the Egan Research Center in which Northeastern hosts high-profile lectures and events. 

13. Association/Collaboration – Jewish National Fund - New England Regional Office

Northeastern University Hillel encourages NU students to apply for paid internships and fellowships with the Jewish National Fund (JNF), among other Zionist organizations.

14. Partnership/Ownership/Membership – Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA)

Northeastern University is listed by CAMERA as a "CAMERA Campus," meaning CAMERA funds and sponsors a student-run group at NEU. In collaboration with this CAMERA-sponsored pro-Israel group at NEU, "Huskies for Israel," CAMERA provides pro-Israel "direction" to NU students on guest speakers, events, and general programming. CAMERA also sponsors CAMERA Fellows, students who receive stipends from CAMERA for duties including "regular monitoring of the campus media, classrooms/professors, and anti-Israel events; attend Israel-related events, take notes, and ask questions during the event." Publicly listed CAMERA fellows at Northeastern include Elie Codron (2020-2021), Harrison Garcia (2020-2021), Matthew Blicher (2021-2022), Jacob Egelberg (2021-2022). (See updated list of CAMERA campuses and current CAMERA campus fellows here.)

 

15. Association/Collaboration – Israeli-American Council Boston

IAC Boston is runs a fellowship program called IAC Mishelanu through which they aim to cultivate "pro-Israel leadership" on several Boston area college campuses, including Northeastern University.

16. Association/Collaboration – MIT Lincoln Labs

MIT Lincoln labs presented to Northeastern University students at NEU's February 2022 STEM career fair.

17. Partnership/Ownership/Membership – Ruderman Family Foundation

The Ruderman Family Foundation partners with the Northeastern University Jewish Studies Program to put on the annual Morton E. Ruderman Memorial Lecture.

The Ruderman Family Foundation donated $250,000 to Northeastern University in FY19. In total, the Ruderman Family Foundation has donated $551,000 to Northeastern University in FY02-FY05 & FY11-FY19. The Ruderman Family Foundation also donated $2,000 to Northeastern University Hillel in FY05 & FY07.

18. Financial Support – Seth Klarman, and the Klarman Family Foundation

The Klarman Family Foundation donated $400,000 to Northeastern University from FY14-15. The Klarman Family Foundation also made a $400,000 donation to Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) in FY16 which was earmarked "To support IACT and Faculty Study Tours to Israel for fiscal years 2015 and 2016." According to Hillel, the IACT Initiative "leverages Birthright Israel to transform Jewish life on campus," and "achieves its goals by providing funding, resources, and support for a dedicated campus professional who will identify and engage lesser-affiliated first-year students and sophomores, recruit them to join a Birthright Israel trip." Hillel international states that Northeastern University is one of the "Founding Campuses" of the IACT initiative.

19. Association/Collaboration – Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)

In 2013, Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein and Director Sarah Tuchman wrote a 12-page letter to Northeastern University president Joseph Auon, in which Klein and Tuchman used false and weaponized accusations of anti-semitism to call for increased censorship against Palestinians and their allies on the NEU campus.

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