Northwestern University employee sues after protesting cuts to LGBTQ resources
Matthew Abtahi served as the director of Northwestern's Gender and Sexuality Resource Center until his employment was terminated in April, according to a civil complaint filed July 17 in Cook County Circuit Court. The Windy City Times first reported on the filing Monday.
The school's Gender and Sexuality Resource Center offers mental health resources to the LGBTQ community. But earlier this year, the university began to scale back the center's online presence, and Northwestern leadership counciled staff issued directives to remove certain initiatives from the website, the filing said.
Northwestern 'instructed staff at the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, including Mr. Abtahi, to refrain from providing resources that had been traditionally provided to members of Northwestern's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community,' the complaint said.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has sought to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion programming at universities nationwide. That's led dozens schools to scrub their websites of messaging highlighting inclusion efforts.
'This last month working with the lawyers and senior leadership at NU has been particularly gutting,' Abtahi wrote in the email. 'Our ability to centralize and provide NU and community-based solutions to the issues LGBTQIA+ students were facing while enrolled was a core part of our work.'
A Northwestern spokesperson said the university doesn't comment on pending litigation.
In the internal email, Abtahi detailed his conversations with Northwestern's legal counsel, who advised him to remove information from the center's website on the school's all-gender bathrooms, chest-binding education and gender-affirming care on campus.
Lawyers also counseled him to remove references to national nonprofits like the Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline, which offer crisis support to transgender individuals. Those organizations use language that has been 'deemed exclusionary' by Northwestern because they are not intended for the general public, Abtahi said in the email.
'The use of civil rights law and discrimination policy to advance these kinds of changes is alarming,' Abtahi wrote.
Throughout the university's investigation, Abtahi was never interviewed by officials, the filing said. He was fired about two weeks later. At the time, Abtahi had been set to transition into a new position in alumni engagement, but that offer was rescinded.
He was later told not to return to Northwestern's campus, according to the complaint.
The filing lists ten counts, including retaliation for opposing discrimination and wrongful termination — accusing the university of violating the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Illinois Whistleblower Act. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney's fees.
'It's always disspointing when you're forced to escalate matters to the courts,' said Jerry Bramwell, Abtahi's attorney. 'We look forward to presenting our case in court.'
The filing offers a glimpse into staff internal pushback at Northwestern as university leaders around the country scramble to adapt to new federal policies.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has sought to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion programming at universities nationwide. That's led dozens schools to scrub their websites of messaging highlighting inclusion efforts.
At Northwestern, the Trump administration has frozen more than $790 million in federal research funding, and has yet to communicate with university leadership on why — or how it can restore those dollars. Next week, President Michael Schill is set to testify for the second time before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in August in a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses that will be closed to the media. His first appearance to address the issue was in May 2024.
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