As demonstrators flocked to H Street this week to support the pro-Palestinian encampment and join in protests calling for a ceasefire and University divestment from Israel, statements on the protest flowed in from faculty, student organizations and a member of a local governing body.
Seven hours after pro-Palestinian protesters erected tents in University Yard on Thursday, community members began releasing statements of both support and condemnation for the encampment and the subsequent suspension of students occupying U-Yard. Faculty and Foggy Bottom community leaders signed statements of support and many student organizations posted supportive statements on Instagram.
Over 40 student organizations, including WRGW, GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity and GW Students for Indigenous and Native American Rights, have released statements of solidarity with students in the encampment, with more than a dozen directly condemning and calling for a reversal of the University’s alleged suspension of seven participants. Two student organizations have condemned the encampment, arguing that their chants are antisemitic, aggressive and incite hate.
The Muslim Students’ Association on Saturday released a statement on Instagram expressing solidarity with the students in the encampment and “wholeheartedly” supporting the students’ demands for the University to divest from “Zionist” companies, protect pro-Palestinian speech on campus, end academic partnerships with “Zionist” institutions and drop the reported charges against pro-Palestinian student organizers.
“We commend the courage and determination of the students who are raising their voices in support of Palestine, despite facing suppression and opposition from university administrators,” the statement read.
The Residence Hall Association issued an Instagram statement Saturday that condemned the reported suspension of seven students. The statement said without due process, GW’s suspension of students put them at risk of homelessness and food insecurity because they no longer have access to their housing or meal plans.
“For students to incur such significant harm resulting from University action is antithetical to the University’s responsibility to protect its students and its goal to eliminate food insecurity on campus,” the statement read.
J Street U at GWU issued a statement via Instagram on Saturday demanding that the reported student suspensions be overturned and said they are “deeply concerned” by the Metropolitan Police Department’s presence on campus and in the encampment area.
“As a majority Jewish organization, we know that the safety of Jewish and Palestinian students are intertwined,” the statement said. “Punishing pro-Palestinian activism does not guarantee our safety; it undermines it.”
GW for Israel and Alpha Epsilon Pi both issued statements condemning the demonstration.
GW for Israel said they “unequivocally” condemn the actions and speech of DMV Students for Justice in Palestine and the GW Student Coalition for Palestine in U-Yard in a statement released Thursday. The post said that statements like “There is only one solution, intifada revolution” and “Settlers, settlers go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” which protesters at the encampment are chanting, “explicitly endorse terrorism” against Israeli civilians.
“We will continue to uplift Jewish and Israeli voices on campus, decry antisemitism, call for the release of our hostages, and reaffirm Israel’s right to defend its people from terror,” the statement said.
An open letter signed by 54 GW faculty and staff members Friday condemned any attempts by GW officials to “shut down” protests or restrict access to open spaces. The letter called on the presidents and board of trustees of universities in the D.C. region to protect students’ rights to free speech on campus and support the mission of universities to “uphold” democratic ideals and “encourage” open expression.
The letter states that the 120 faculty and staff from universities in the DMV area who signed the document “will not tolerate” administrators’ attempts to silence, restrict and criminalize demonstrators.
“George Washington University, and indeed universities across the DMV and the United States as a whole, will fail in their most basic promises and commitments if they continue to repress, arrest, suspend, and stifle the free speech and political activity of their students,” the letter states.
Sara Matthiesen, an assistant professor of history and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said she signed the letter to criticize campus administrators’ decisions to “criminalize” and discipline students who are protesting against Palestinian genocide. She said the Israel-Hamas war is a “historic moment” that calls on people to take “risks” to fight for liberation.
“I signed because I am incredibly proud of and stand with our students who are courageously putting the ideas we discuss in our classrooms about power, justice, and solidarity into action,” Matthiesen said in an email.
Melani McAlister, a professor of American studies and international affairs, said she signed the petition with other professors to show GW administration that the pro-Palestinian protesters “are not alone” in their efforts to exercise free speech. She said she recognizes the “urgency” of the war in Gaza and agreed with other faculty members that “silence is not an option.”
“Threatening to arrest or suspend students because of the ‘time, space, and manner’ of their use of free speech does a deep disservice to the commitment that GW should be standing for,” McAlister said in an email.
William Burns, a visiting and part-time professor of history, said he signed the letter because he believes it is important that GW officials protect student protesters and “not screw this up” when managing demonstrations on campus.
“A repressive police response benefits no one, neither students nor the university,” Burns said in an email. “It’s important that faculty stand with students on this.”
Jim Malec, the chair of the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said in an email to GW Director of Community Relations Kevin Days on Friday that he hopes GW officials will “think hard” about how community members will perceive the University’s response to the encampment.
Malec said GW does not have an obligation to exercise the “full extent” of its legal authority even though as a private university its First Amendment considerations are “different” from public universities.
“Rather than threatening to arrest or discipline students, it could in fact celebrate the fact that members of its student body are engaging in a demonstration pertaining to a matter they feel passionately about,” Malec said in the email.
ANC Commissioner Yannik Omictin said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Friday that he stands in solidarity with the demonstrators in the encampment. He said he is “proud” of the GW students who are demonstrating international solidarity.
“GW should heed the protestors’ calls and MPD+GWPD should stay out of it,” Omictin said in the post.
