In a welcome address in 2023, University President Ellen Granberg expressed her excitement to embed herself in GW life upon moving to campus by attending student events and collaborating with the University community.
Now, as Granberg enters her second year in office, students and community members said they hope to see more visibility and engagement with the student body from the University president.
More than 30 students expressed mixed reactions to Granberg’s first year, some criticizing her handling of ongoing campus protests since the start of the war in Gaza while others expressed sympathy for the turbulent start to her first term. Many students called for Granberg to visibly engage more frequently with students and in forums that allow the GW community to freely ask questions about their most pressing concerns, like financial transparency.
Junior Mac Colomb, a journalism and mass communications student, said students want “more” from Granberg, adding that “nobody” is happy with her first year in office — a sharp contrast from his perception of former interim University President Mark Wrighton, who he said had a sense of “playfulness,” as he would occasionally walk his dog on campus.
Colomb said it’s “tough” to support all sides of students’ views from an administrative standpoint and that it would take officials “a lot of time” to connect with students who were upset by the University’s handling of the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring. Granberg was never spotted at the encampment, but officials like Dean of Students Colette Coleman and Provost Chris Bracey made appearances.
“Whether or not Granberg can gain back trust depends on students,” Colomb said. “It’s on her and the administration to work toward rebuilding that trust, but whether or not they’re able to do that depends on if students are willing, and if they’re not, the admin messed up.”
During her first year as president, Granberg said she hoped to “set the tone” for shared governance and involve students, faculty and staff in the decision-making process for critical issues at GW. Students said they were initially optimistic about Granberg, expecting her experience in diversity, equity and inclusion would improve GW’s response to discriminatory actions, improve student and administrative relationships and make the University’s policies more transparent.
One year later, at least 27 student organization leaders did not return a request for comment about their thoughts on Granberg’s first year. Five organizations declined to comment due to potential future collaboration with administrators and a desire to avoid speaking on their organization’s behalf.
Junior Christina Carris, the director of public relations for GW College Republicans, said campus tensions that developed after the start of the war in Gaza put Granberg in a “sticky situation” in balancing support for all students with their respective views. She said she appreciates how Granberg has been holding meetings with students but didn’t specify which conversations.
“She’s trying to appease both and honestly hear both sides out,” Carris said. “Whether I agree or disagree with her on an issue I respect anyone that’s willing to hear both sides out and hear what they have to say.”
Raven McAuliffe, a 2024 alum who studied women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said when the University announced Granberg’s presidency, she hoped Granberg would make an effort to connect with LGBTQ+ students on campus, as a member of the community herself.
“Maybe she was doing more things behind the scenes, but as someone that was in a lot of the organizations and social circles of queer people on campus, I didn’t see her making any effort to connect with queer people in particular,” McAuliffe said.
Kathy Fackelmann, the director of media relations at the University, said Granberg has prioritized getting to know the “entire” GW community and has hosted and attended more than 150 events with students, faculty and staff on the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses since her start at the University.
“As we embark on the new academic year, the president looks forward to continuing to engage with our students at various events and activities as much as possible,” Fackelmann said in an email.
Granberg and her wife have spent informal time with students outside of engagements and events and has met privately with several different student organizations, officials said. Officials said she attended events like the New Student Orientation keynote, the Buff and Blue Pep Rally, Kickback on the National Mall, Class of 2028 welcome events, the Multicultural Student Services Center Block Party, GW Day of Service and a GW volleyball game.
In October, following backlash over officials’ response to campus tensions after Oct. 7, 2023, Granberg said she met with Jewish, Muslim and Arab community members, during which she heard reports of bigotry and identity-based mistreatment.
For more than five months, pro-Palestinian students have urged officials to meet with them to negotiate demands, including divestment from companies with ties to Israel and financial disclosure of the University’s investments. Pro-Palestinian student leaders met with officials in May — two days after local police officers cleared the pro-Palestinian encampment in the University Yard — and Granberg said the University would not commit to divestment.
The coalition resumed live-streamed talks with administrators last week to discuss the progress of the coalition’s demands where officials repeated that “divestment is off the table.” Granberg was not present at last week’s meeting.
Sinan Kassim, a junior majoring in international affairs, said officials should disclose GW’s financial investments because they could be “smart investments” and suggested fireside chats with officials and monthly town hall meetings with Granberg and Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes to gauge student opinion on the University’s major financial actions.
“I believe that our students are more than smart enough to comprehend what those investments are and the implications of those investments,” Kassim said.
Junior Abhinav Ranganathan said Granberg should resign due to her “incredibly” poor handling of the encampment last semester.
“I can’t say that the next president would be better, but the direction that we’ve seen from administration has been awful, and I think change is immediately necessary,” Ranganathan said.
Sophomore Ben Marchessault said he would like to see more communication and an expanded campus presence from Granberg this year.
“It just seems like she’s kind of this overlord that I don’t really know anything about,” Marchessault said.
Brooke Forgette, Grant Pacernick and Elijah Edwards contributed reporting.
