Updated: May 19, 2025, at 1:00 a.m.
A student speaker condemned the University’s refusal to divest from Israel and disciplinary actions against pro-Palestinian protesters during Saturday’s Columbian College of Arts & Sciences graduation ceremony — an act officials are investigating for policy violations.
Cecilia Culver, an economics and statistics graduate, used her speech to criticize the University for suppressing pro-Palestinian activism related to the war in Gaza and urge graduates to withhold donations from GW until officials disclose all financial investments and divest from companies tied to Israel. University Spokesperson Kathy Fackelmann said Culver’s remarks were “materially different” than the speech she submitted ahead of the ceremony, and officials are investigating whether Culver violated the University’s events protocol or Student Code of Conduct.
“I am ashamed to know my tuition is being used to fund this genocide,” Culver said during her speech to nearly 750 graduates at the first of two CCAS undergraduate ceremonies in the Smith Center.
Culver said the University has “repressed” community members who had the “courage” to point out the “blood” on officials’ hands, rather than engaging in negotiations with students to divest from Israel.
“I hope, in time, I will be proven wrong, that those in power will shed their self-interest and finally commit to a University free of ties to genocide,” Culver said.
Officials have sanctioned students and organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine, for their involvement in last year’s pro-Palestinian encampment in University Yard, which demanded that GW divest from companies tied to Israel and the war in Gaza. Officials in April suspended SJP for one year for violating the terms of earlier sanctions related to the encampment.
Officials said GW’s “long-standing” position of not supporting divestment or academic boycotts against Israel remains “unchanged.” Officials said they are not considering changing the University’s endowment investment strategy or academic partnerships.
Culver said she cannot celebrate her graduation without a “heavy heart,” knowing that students in Palestine have been forced to abandon their studies, displaced from their homes or killed amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
“The horrors unfolding halfway across the world may be easy to ignore, for those lacking a moral backbone,” Culver said. “For the rest of us, these atrocities cause us to take stock in our own complacency in the imperialist system.”
Culver’s speech was met with cheers from the crowd and other graduates. CCAS administrators, faculty and other guests on the dais behind her either clapped in response to her comments, began whispering to each other or did not react.
After the speech, CCAS Associate Dean for Academic Innovation Kavita Daiya said the school represents a variety of viewpoints and thanked Culver for sharing hers.
Rachel Riedner, the associate dean for undergraduate studies, said during her charge that Culver strayed from her prepared remarks and that they “do not reflect” before she was cut off by noise from the crowd. Some graduates began to chant “Free, free Palestine” while others shushed them during Riedner’s speech.
Riedner asked the crowd to respect each other’s views and continued her speech.
As the graduates were presented by their departments on the dais and invited to shake Riedner’s hand, nearly a dozen students donned keffiyehs as they walked across the stage. One student carried a sign that said, “Israel bombs, GW pays.”
Some chose not to shake Riedner’s hand as they crossed the stage.
Fackelmann said the University is also aware of students who displayed signs they brought into the ceremony under their graduation gowns, despite University guidance against doing so. She said the speech and signs do not reflect the views of the University.
Officials updated guidelines before last year’s commencement to ban any objects that could obstruct the view of guests or graduates, including signs, balloons, banners, posters and flyers.
“We apologize to the graduates and families in attendance that their time of special celebration being disrupted,” Fackelmann said in an email.
In an interview with The Hatchet after the ceremony, Culver said she couldn’t justify having the platform of the graduation speech without saying something about a topic that is meaningful to many people on campus.
“There was just never any point where I was not going to say something,” Culver said.
She said she was not surprised by Riedner’s comments that she did not give her original speech and was prepared to receive backlash.
“So, a simple statement that I strayed away, that’s fine. I’ll take that,” Culver said.
The live stream of the ceremony on YouTube, which is promoted by the University as an alternative way to watch the event, is no longer available on the CCAS Commencement Ceremony website or the CCAS YouTube channel.
GW for Israel posted a statement on Instagram later on Saturday that said Culver used her speech to “spread hateful lies” about Israel and “deprived” Jewish students of the opportunity to celebrate their graduation. The post calls for the University to take action to “ensure” every student feels “confident” about their safety on campus.
“While we appreciate the support that the school’s administration has provided in order to address the rise in antisemitism at GW and at college campuses across the country, we have come to learn that words are not enough,” the post states.
GW Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine posted on Instagram Sunday a call for people to email University President Ellen Granberg, Provost Chris Bracey and CCAS leadership asking them to protect Culver’s right to speak about Palestine “without retribution,” disclose and divest from companies tied to Israel and “resist” Project Esther, a Heritage Foundation project attempting to dismantle the pro-Palestinain movement.
“Within hours of her remarks, CC began to receive public threats on Instagram, and yet the University only responds with carceral logics announcing their investigation of her, with no denouncement of the hatred she has received,” the post reads.
New York University on Friday announced that it is withholding the diploma of a student who delivered an unapproved commencement speech about Palestine and the war in Gaza at a ceremony for its Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Gianna Jakubowski contributed reporting.
This post was updated to reflect the following:
This post has been updated to include social media statements by GW for Israel and GW Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.
