GW Braces for New Pro-Palestine Protests in Nation’s Capital
Tim Kennedy /
Classes are underway again at The George Washington University in the nation’s capital amid renewed anti-Israel demonstrations on campus.
DMV Students for Justice in Palestine, a coalition of anti-Israel, pro-Palestine groups, led a march through GW’s campus Thursday night, demonstrating outside the home of university President Ellen Granberg.
Classes resumed Thursday at GW.
Last spring, GW students joined outside anti-Israel groups to establish an illegal encampment in University Yard from late April to early May. This coalition of pro-Palestine demonstrators demanded that GW divest from all companies doing business with the Jewish state.
At its height, the anti-Israel encampment, or “Liberation Zone,” comprised over 50 tents.
In an online welcome letter to students dated Monday, Granberg and other university administrators touched on the Nov. 5 presidential election, calling it a “pivotal moment” in the nation’s history.
The George Washington University is one of the 10 top most politically active schools in the U.S., according to The Princeton Review.
Over the summer, Granberg and other GW administrators reflected on last semester’s pro-Palestine demonstrations.
GW released a new iteration of its existing Plan to Strengthen Our Community. The plan, first unveiled in January, lists examples of permitted and prohibited “Expressive Activities.”
Prohibited activities seemingly draw inspiration from last spring’s pro-Palestine, anti-Israel episode. Among them:
—“Engaging in harassing conduct, including uttering statements directed to others on the basis of their race or national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics) or other protected characteristics.”
—“Occupying university premises after being directed by university officials to disperse.”
In November, the university suspended GW Students for Justice in Palestine, a leading anti-Israel student, when members of the group projected antisemitic slogans on the university library.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that university officials suspended other prominent anti-Israel student groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, ahead of the fall semester, effectively revoking campus funding from the groups.
These student groups surfaced at GW and other university campuses across the nation after Hamas terrorists went on a rampage of rape, torture, and murder Oct. 7 in southern Israel, leaving 1,200 dead and taking 250 hostages.
Hamas is the elected government of the adjacent Gaza Strip, where Israel since has conducted military operations to root out the terrorist organization.
The Daily Signal asked GW about the status on campus of GW Students for Justice in Palestine.
“GW takes seriously our commitment to free expression, ensuring the safety of our community, and maintaining our education and research missions,” a university spokesperson said, adding:
As is appropriate for institutions of higher education, GW also has an obligation to address violations of university policy, and does so without regard to the content of the message those demonstrating seek to advance. It does so through a Code of Student Conduct that provides a fair review process that includes student peers.
According to the university’s Division for Student Affairs, the chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is on disciplinary probation, meaning it no longer is in “good judicial standing” and may be excluded from co-curricular activities.
Students for Justice in Palestine may host a limited number of social events or other activities that include alcohol. The sanction is set to expire in December.
Students for Justice in Palestine GW’s chapter didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s questions sent Wednesday via social media. Neither did GW Hillel, the largest Jewish student organization on campus, whose members organized a counterprotest to last spring’s encampment.
“First Amendment protections do not apply to GW students, faculty or staff,” according to GW’s “community” plan, because it is a private university.
GW administrators crafted their own free expression guidelines, featured in the revised Plan to Strengthen Our Community.
In the document, the university places limitations on expression, saying that speech is not protected when it rises to the level of prohibited harassment based on a person’s protected characteristic (examples include age, disability, ethnicity/national origin, gender, race, religion/faith tradition, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, and many others) as defined by state, local, and federal anti-discrimination laws and university policies.
NPR and other outlets reported that Jewish Voice for Peace’s national chapter breached Capitol Hill security July 24, the day Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a joint meeting of Congress. Hundreds of protesters flooded into the Cannon House Office Building.
U.S. Capitol Police told The Daily Signal on Aug. 16 that the agency arrested 248 protesters that day, charging them with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding under D.C. law (Section 22-1307).