Over the last two weeks, more than 70 student groups have voiced support for free speech and condemned the punishment of students protesting at the pro-Palestinian encampment in University Yard that local police cleared Wednesday.
Two days after the encampment started, officials placed seven student protesters on interim suspension April 27 with nine counts of misconduct each, and May 8, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested at least six students for unlawful entry. In the wake of the disciplinary action, student organizations released an array of statements condemning the sanctions, each tailored to their group’s own mission.
The Student Coalition for Palestine at GWU, a group of at least four student groups that formed following the suspension of GW Students for Justice in Palestine after four of its members projected messages critical of Israel and GW on Gelman Library in October. The coalition, along with SJP chapters at other local universities in the District, worked together to establish the pro-Palestinian encampment April 25.
Members of student organizations said although police cleared the encampment Wednesday — some officers deploying pepper spray and using physical force — the demonstrators will continue to stress their demands to administrators, including dropping charges against pro-Palestinian students and divest from companies funding Israel’s war on Gaza. Members of the GW coalition met with officials Friday after Dean of Students Colette Coleman invited representatives of Arab, Palestinian and Muslim student groups. In her invitation, she prefaced that the University said it is “not considering” meeting many of the organizers demands, including divestment from companies with ties to Israel and cutting Israeli academic partnerships.
Student organization leaders said protest organizers asked some student groups on social media to issue statements or posted statements on their own behalf condemning the suspension of students and encouraging officials to meet with protesters to discuss their demands.
A member of Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity, who requested to remain anonymous due to fear of doxxing, said the organization was inspired to issue a statement after the Residence Hall Association posted one condemning the University’s threats of suspension on the second day of the encampment.
The RAGE representative said their organization wanted to use their platform as an advocacy group to grow the awareness of food and housing insecurities following GW’s suspension of eight students and to mobilize other organizations to do the same. The representative said RAGE wanted to continue supporting the coalition with the statement after hosting events this semester with the coalition like a teach-in on purple washing — the practice of presenting an action as feminist to downplay negative or contradictory reactions — and imperial feminism about the connection between reproductive rights and the conditions in Gaza under Israel’s bombardment.
“We always really focus ourselves around the three tenets of reproductive justice, which is the right to have a child, the right not to have a child and the right to parent a child in safe and sustainable communities,” the RAGE representative said. “So I think that last one about being able to support people in safe and sustainable communities is something that I think has been pretty central in a lot of our advocacy around this.”
The RAGE member said pro-Palestinian students and student organizations remain high despite local police’s clearing of the encampment Wednesday, adding that the protesters will continue to grow in strength and size. The member said GW administration should listen to their students and engage in an open dialogue instead of “fighting back with police brutality.”
“Clearly that’s not working for them,” the representative said. “It’s not working for any school across the country, and if anything, I think that goes to show that they will do a lot of things before listening to their students.”
Sophomore Celia Little, the president of GW J Street U — a majority Jewish organization promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — said the organization issued a statement because an organizer from the coalition asked them to after students were suspended. She said GW J Street U wanted to stress that its members believe the encampment wasn’t antisemitic and served to protest the war in Gaza and the University’s “complicity.”
Little said she hopes conversations between organizers and administration continue so that the University protects pro-Palestinian speech on campus without threatening suspension against students.
“I saw that Granberg met with some negotiators from some of the organizers yesterday, I would hope that these conversations continue and that their demands are being taken seriously because for the past few weeks, it hasn’t felt like that,” Little said.
Senior Joey Meirson, the president of GW Class Council — a group organization that hosts programming like talent showcases to build community on campus — said the organization issued a statement April 29 about the encampment because members wanted to speak out for students who are at risk of being mistreated after seeing statements from other organizations in support of the protest.
“The Class Council wants to make clear that we support the rights of students to have their voices heard on campus and to know that they are protected and supported in their opinions,” the statement said. “With that being said, GW Class Council does not, and will not, tolerate the Antisemitism, Islamophobia and discrimination that has sadly taken place.”
Meirson said she didn’t feel comfortable taking a stronger stance in favor of the protest in the statement because she is a Jewish student with ties to Israel and there were signs present at the encampment that called for a “final solution,” a term used for the Nazi regime’s deliberate persecution of Jewish people.
“We wanted to show that while GW Class Council will not publicly state a political stance, we will always stand with students and we wanted to make that known,” Meirson said in an email.
A representative from the Disabled Students Collective who requested to remain anonymous due to fear of doxxing and retaliation, said when they visited the encampment on its second day, an organizer of the protests asked the collective to make a statement about the issues of the lack of accessibility of bathrooms, health care and hygienic care for demonstrators.
An organizer said on day three that some students inside the U-Yard encampment were menstruating and lacked access to sanitary period products and a clean bathroom. A University spokesperson said students had access to food, water and bathrooms if they showed a valid GW ID and that medical assistance was available if needed.
The DSC representative said all the statements from student organizations put pressure on the University to meet with and discuss the demands of the protesters, which they said represent “next steps” in meeting protester’s demands.
“We’re trying to get the administration to realize that this is an intersectional issue,” the representative said. “This issue affects students who aren’t just Palestinian, it affects every student on campus and a lot of students who aren’t maybe personally involved in the issue.”
At least three student organizations, including Alpha Epsilon Pi, GW for Israel and GW College Republicans issued statements condemning the protests and calling on the University to end the encampment.
Sophomore and AEPi President Aidan Rosenblum said the fraternity was concerned that the “solidarity protests” would instill violence toward Jewish students and issued a statement requesting the University “address” the encampment. He said he supports the right to protest until it isn’t peaceful like when protesters call for another Intifada — in Arabic, a term that means “shaking off,” and historically, a pair of Palestinian uprisings against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987 and 2000, which killed of more than 5,000 Palestinians and about 1,400 Israelis — which he said calls for “terrorism” against Jewish people.
Rosenblum said the clearing of the encampment was necessary but “too much,” adding that there should have been more warnings from police for protesters to clear the encampment and gather their personal belongings.
“The consequences have to come with that and so the University has to respond to these types of instances in order to properly make sure that students don’t violate code of conduct and the law,” Rosenblum said.
Jennifer Igbonoba contributed reporting.
