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U of Chicago prof appears to hate where she works, but needs it to ‘build power’

August 14, 2026 | | Print Article

University of Chicago associate professor Eman Abdelhadi, the sister of far-left Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, is even more radical than her brother.

A video clip of Abdelhadi commenting about organizing power during a panel discussion at the Socialism 2025 conference last July is sweeping the internet.

“Why would I organize here? I don’t care about this institution. Like I don’t—like f*ck the University of Chicago, it’s evil. Like, you know? It’s a colonial landlord,” the extremist educator says in the clip. “Like, why would I put any of my political energy into this space. And I kind of had a moment of disdain for people who spent a lot of time doing that.”

“The genocide really collapsed that and made me realize two things,” she continued. “One is that, well, my students need me. So, it was like: ‘Oh, I actually have to organize here to take care of my students, who I do care about.’ But I also realized—and I think this is a painful lesson that a lot of us in the Palestine solidarity movement have been learning—is that we don’t have power.”

She would go on to say, “I work at one of the biggest employers in the city of Chicago. A place where I have access to thousands of people that I could potentially organize … This is where I need to build power. This is my best possible structural leverage.”

Abdelhadi defended her remarks at the time by claiming that she also “builds power” outside the university and that the institution should be pressured to wield its influence more responsibly,” according to The Chicago Maroon.

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“I never said that I only stay at UChicago to build political power. I said that I hadn’t invested much activist energy in the institution in my early years, thinking it was likely stuck in its ways,” she wrote. “Over time, I came to see that faculty and staff can (and should) come together to call on UChicago to be a better local citizen, given its immense power in the city.”

As for how radical she is, Abdelhadi was arrested in October 2025 during a protest outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. She was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to a government employee, a Class 3 felony, and two counts of resisting/obstructing peace, a Class A misdemeanor, Fox News reported, citing the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

A Google Play profile showcases even more extremism, noting that Abdelhadi “has been involved in the movement for Palestinian liberation, Black Lives Matter, counter-surveillance and abolitionism, marxist feminist mobilization as well as workplace struggles.” It goes on to say she “is currently co-coordinating the Muslim Alliance for Gender and Sexual Diversity, a national organization that provides support and builds community by and for Queer Muslims.”

And it gets worse – as seen in a screenshot of Abdelhadi celebrating the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel:

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Abdelhadi was born in America, but lived in Egypt and, for a short time, in Saudi Arabia, before returning to the U.S. at the age of nine after her father died — her mother is from Egypt and her father is from Palestine. The fact that she is an assistant professor is an indictment of the university system in this country, which has devolved into little more than hate-America indoctrination camps turning out an entire generation of Marxists seeking the downfall of their own country.

Naturally, El-Sayed does not dote on Abdelhadi while deceiving American voters on the campaign trail.

Tom Tillison
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