The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee sent University President Ellen Granberg a letter Wednesday demanding information about Students for Justice in Palestine at GWU a day before a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) demands Granberg respond by April 9 to questions about SJP’s on-campus activities, funding sources and whether the University investigated flyers calling for the firing of an economics professor linked to President Donald Trump’s Gaza redevelopment plan. Cassidy launched an investigation into American Muslims for Palestine — a nonprofit which aims to educate and mobilize people about Palestinian rights — for its alleged ties to Hamas and SJP chapters at GW, the University of California, Los Angeles, Barnard College and Columbia University.
University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said officials received the letter Wednesday.
“Officials will respond to the committee’s questions regarding campus safety, reaffirming our commitment to enforcing anti-discrimination policies in line with all federal and local laws while fostering a safe environment in which members of the University community are held accountable,” McClendon said in an email.
A representative from SJP — who requested anonymity due to concerns of doxxing and retaliation — said the organization did not receive any communications with the University regarding the inquiries and found the letter independently.
Cassidy announced the investigation during a committee hearing Thursday to address antisemitism on college campuses after the onset of the war in Gaza. Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the founder of Chabad GW, also testified at the hearing.
At the hearing, Shemtov said Jewish students have been increasingly harassed and ostracized because of their ancestry or support for Israel since the onset of the war in Gaza with some reported being spat on, verbally accosted and physically threatened. Shemtov said the pro-Palestinian encampment in University Yard last spring disrupted campus life under the “guise of political activism.”
“These gatherings went far beyond peaceful protests — which we must all respect — they became breeding grounds for antisemitic rhetoric, intimidation and outright violence,” Shemtov said at the hearing.
Administrators failed to take “sufficient decisive action” to ensure the safety of Jewish students even as some professors joined the encampment, Shemtov said.
“Activity that threatens the safety of others is not constitutionally protected free speech, and conduct that violates campus rules should not be tolerated,” Cassidy’s letter reads. “Reports of individuals with ties to terrorist groups or their affiliates engaging with students on college campuses are also cause for the highest alarm.”
In November, the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce accused GW of failing to sufficiently discipline pro-Palestinian protesters who violated University policies in a report about antisemitism on college campuses since Oct. 7, 2023.
Officials suspended one student, placed 16 students on disciplinary probation, censured three students and issued warnings to three students for misconduct related to the war in Gaza between Oct. 7, 2023 and May 9, the report states.
Last month, SJP posted on Instagram photos reportedly submitted by anonymous students of about 20 “notice of eviction” flyers scattered in front of economics professor Joseph Pelzman’s office in Monroe Hall. Pelzman published a paper in July 2024 through the nonprofit think tank he co-founded calling for mass excavation of Gaza in order to replace it with a “sovereign demilitarized green economy.”
Pelzman’s only post on X, formerly known as Twitter, includes a photo of the flyer with a message saying that he filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Jusice about the GW administration’s inaction in handling SJP’s response to his paper on Gaza. The DOJ’s antisemitism task force announced last month that it will visit GW and nine other universities that they said have experienced “antisemitic incidents” since Oct. 7, 2023.
Cassidy’s letter states that the flyers are “the most recent in a chain of concerning events” at the University, referencing SJP’s projections onto Gelman Library in October 2023 and the organization’s suspension in August 2024 for its involvement in the encampment.
He asked Granberg to provide a “detailed account” of incidents on GW’s campus involving SJP and “all information” about whether members of SJP participated in campus protests in 2024 and 2025 and how the protests were organized. Cassidy also asked Granberg to answer if SJP ever received funding from GW and if campus policy requires SJP to have a faculty representative.
Cassidy also requested information from the DOJ, the FBI and the four other universities about AMP and its influence on college campuses. The senator sent a letter to the chairman of AMP demanding the organization disclose their relationships with SJP chapters, communications with university representatives and financial records.
“While college campuses should welcome free speech and the free exchange of ideas, they should never be havens for terrorist organizations or their affiliates to engage with college students or instigate conflict for their own political purposes,” Cassidy wrote in a letter to AMP Chairman Hatem Bazian.
The letter alleges that some current and previous AMP personnel and speakers at fundraisers have ties to the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development — a Muslim charity which the FBI shut down in 2008 for funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.
The letter also alleges several AMP leaders have engaged with students during pro-Palestinian campus protests, with some news outlets claiming that AMP personnel also helped establish SJP chapters nationwide. The Hatchet was unable to independently verify the link between AMP and SJP.
Social media videos posted by the Embassy of Israel to the United States appear to show AMP Executive Director Osama Abuirshaid speaking to demonstrators on the first day of the encampment last spring.
“Cassidy — like both Granberg and the presidential administration — makes disingenuous accusations as a pretext to crack down on pro-Palestinian speech,” the SJP representative said in a message. “When they crack down on our speech, they implicitly acknowledge that there is no justification for Zionism and all of the violence it requires.”
The representative said Granberg has showed she was willing to put students in danger to make a “political point” and that community members should be concerned about the lack of transparency that officials have had with Cassidy or other federal groups attempting to target students for their pro-Palestinian activism.
“The unambiguous message they send is ‘We do not care about you, your safety, or your education,'” the representative said in a message.
