Officials updated guidelines for this year’s Commencement week to include additional prohibited items and outline the University’s free expression policy, which permits law enforcement to escort disruptive protesters out of ceremonies.
In an email sent to the Class of 2024 Friday evening, officials listed additional prohibited items and informed graduates that security personnel or the U.S. Park Police will escort protesters out of the ceremony if they continue to disrupt the event after an initial warning. Updates to the frequently asked questions tab on GW’s Commencement website come after weeks of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that led Metropolitan Police Department officers to clear the encampment on H Street and University Yard on Wednesday morning, arresting more than 30 protesters.
Since April, officials have added five additional topics to the Commencement FAQ section — alternate site plan, disruptions to Commencement week activities, emergency notifications, free expression and reasonable limitations, and traffic/road closures — according to internet archives. Officials also added amplified sound devices and signage, including posters, banners and flyers, to the list of items prohibited at commencement events, which run from May 16 through May 19.
The disruptions to Commencement week activities tab states that an event representative will ask anyone who disrupts a commencement event or uses a prohibited item to stop, and that law enforcement will remove them if they refuse.
“This includes the use of visible displays (signs, balloons, banners, posters, flyers, or any item that could obstruct the view of guests or graduates) and/or amplified sound items (noisemakers, bullhorns, megaphones, speakers),” the website states.
The free expression and reasonable limitations tab states that officials may regulate free expression when it is obscene, threatening or does not adhere to time, place manner restrictions.
“Speech may be regulated when it is obscene, involves true threats (serious or intentional threats of violence directed at specific individuals), incites violence, or involves illegal conduct,” the website states.
According to the alternative site plan tab, graduates and “platform party” members should report to the Smith Center if the ceremony needs to be relocated because officials are unable to “safely conduct the ceremony as planned.” The emergency notifications tab states that information will be communicated via GW Alerts, Campus Advisories, GW’s homepage and the University’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have set up encampments at universities across the country to demand officials disclose investments and divest from companies supplying arms to Israel, which has led to thousands of arrests and detainments. Columbia University and the University of Southern California canceled their main commencement ceremonies, with officials citing safety concerns due to encampments and demonstrations on campus. Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated at the University of Michigan’s commencement ceremony last Saturday.
