Updated: April 22, 2025, at 8:52 p.m.

A group of student organizations launched a petition on Tuesday with six demands for the University to protect international students, including barring immigration and law enforcement agents from campus and protecting free speech and academic freedom.

The Socialist Action Initiative, Student Coalition for Palestine, the Immigrant Liberation Coalition, Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and GW Dissenters led an online petition calling on officials to designate GW a “sanctuary campus,” which would require GW to instate policies aimed at limiting the University’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The petition — which also stipulates that GW should refuse to “surveil” and report the status of international community members to immigration enforcement — came after federal agencies revoked a “small number” of international students’ visas earlier this month.

Sanctuary campuses follow the model of sanctuary cities, a term coined by cities in American southwest in the 1980s that declared themselves “sanctuaries” for Central American immigrants. Sanctuary cities are characterized by policies that define the extent to which a city’s government and law enforcement will cooperate with federal immigration law officers.

The petition asks signees to indicate whether they are signing on behalf of themselves or a campus group. It is unclear how many organizations and students have signed the petition because the website does not publicly display the number of signees. A University spokesperson said GW is “aware of” the post and petition.

The organizations hosted a “Sanctuary Campus Town Hall” on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Elliott School of International Affairs, where student representatives from the Socialist Action Initiative, the Immigrant Liberation Coalition and the Student Coalition for Palestine led a panel discussion on Trump’s attacks on student protesters.

Attendees at the town hall called on GW to not comply with the federal government over immigration law enforcement, citing concerns over the Trump administration’s escalating efforts to target international students and suppress student protests on college campuses.

Kali Sen, an event organizer from the Student Coalition for Palestine, said in an interview that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “abducting” and detaining students drove organizers’ “anger,” motivating them to hold the town hall.

Conversations with international students helped organizers recognize that “more communication” from the International Services Office about the status of international students’ visas would help them feel safer on campus, she said.

At the event, the organizers shared resources to protect international students, including a “toolkit” with contact information of legal counsel, the process of visa revocation and information about immigrants’ rights in the United States.

“We had some direct conversations with international students, and we had also been advocating for them long before this,” Sen said.

Bell Julian Clement, an adjunct professor of history, said she attended the town hall to speak on behalf of a student in her class who came to her with a written statement that they didn’t feel comfortable reading publicly given their international student status.

Clement said the student felt “abandoned” by the University because of the lack of legal resources officials offer international students. The student asked in their letter that officials provide the contact information of a lawyer or an advocate that can assist international students when they feel “scared” and “unsure” about their safety.

“I’ve never broken any rule,” the student said in the letter read during the town hall. “But still I live in fear, fear of ICE, fear of losing my visa over something I didn’t even understand.”

The ISO website states that the office can resolve “many questions or issues” regarding international student or employee status but that community members may need to obtain assistance for “personal legal matters or complex cases” from an attorney or specialist. The same website offers links to legal counsel directories in D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

“It is disturbing to me how vulnerable this particular student feels,” Clement said. “This is a strong student, very meticulous in school work, doing everything right.”

University spokesperson Julia Garbitt said officials understand the visa revocations have caused anxiety among international students, and she said mental health services through GW Counseling and Psychological Services and the Employee Assistance Program are available to community members.

She said students with questions should reach out to ISO for “continued and useful guidance,” including consulting with ISO before traveling, carrying proof of immigration status and seeking external immigration counsel.

GW “remains committed” to fostering a safe educational environment that respects the debate and discourse of differing points of views, even when controversial, Garbitt said. She said the University maintains “strong policies” on free expression and offers resources and support for our students through the Division for Student Affairs.

“At the same time, we continue to follow all applicable laws to support and protect our community from unlawful discrimination, including on the basis of religion, national origin and shared ancestry, as well as applicable immigration laws,” Garbitt said in an email.

Three student speakers, who did not identify themselves during the town hall, discussed ICE’s “abduction” of Columbia students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, who are both legal permanent residents. Agency officials detained the Columbia protest organizers on March 8 and April 14, respectively, for their involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Khalil’s immigration attorneys have called his detainment a “charade of due process” and a sign of the “weaponization” of immigration law.

A student representative from the Socialist Action Initiative said GW should follow the lead of Harvard University by “standing up” against the Trump administration.

Earlier this week, Harvard refused to adhere to the Trump’s demands for the school, including audits of academic programs and departments and changes to the university’s governance structure and hiring process. In response, the federal government froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard.

“The demands and ultimatums that the Trump administration has presented to universities threaten to degrade the foundational principles of both independent education and free speech,” the Socialist Action Initiative student representative said.

One of the town hall attendees called for GW to create a voting student seat on the Board of Trustees, which would allow someone with a “real stake” in the University to communicate with trustees in a “meaningful” way.

“People that are putting in their time, money and effort into the University and having no say in the policy that comes out of it, that’s the opposite of democratic governance,” the attendee said. “It’s people not being involved in their governance, I think that should change.”

The Student Government Association in 2023 passed legislation to request that GW names the SGA president and vice president student trustees, building upon past unsuccessful efforts to add a student representation to the Board. The University has said in the past that it would not create a student seat.

An organizer from the Student Coalition for Palestine, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation from the University, called for replacing trustees with faculty, students and workers who are “actively contributing” to GW through their “labor” and tuition.

“People are not paying tuition to be here because of the Board of Trustees,” the organizer said. “Who makes up this institution? It’s the students who pay tuition. It’s the faculty members who are teaching their classes.”

The organizer said the student coalition is in the process of “coalition-building” with other campus groups — like the GW American Association of University Professors chapter, the GW Graduate Worker United and the union representing the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum — to demand officials defend freedom of speech for student protesters and international students. 

“The Board of Trustees essentially has complete unilateral control to make decisions for the entire University community, decisions that don’t affect them, but affect us directly,” the student organizer said. 

This post has been updated to correct the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly referred to The Immigrant Liberation Coalition as Immigrant Liberation in a previous version of this post. The Hatchet also incorrectly omitted Students for Justice in Palestine as one of the student organizations that published the demands and petition for the University to deem itself a “sanctuary campus.” We regret these errors.