A group of current and former students filed a lawsuit against the University Thursday, accusing officials and the Board of Trustees of allowing “pervasive and severe” harassment of Jewish and Israeli students to escalate since the onset of the war in Gaza.
The 176-page lawsuit, filed in the D.C. District Court by two alumni and an anonymous group of community members, alleges that a pattern of on-campus incidents dating back to 2019 reflects GW’s “shameful complicity” in permitting “unchecked” antisemitism, which intensified in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The plaintiffs claim that officials and the Board violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the D.C. Human Rights Act by allowing “hostile acts” against Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian protests and maintaining academic partnerships with organizations allegedly tied to antisemitic movements.
Alumni Sabrina Soffer and Ari Shapiro and an anonymous group of students, alumni and other stakeholders known as “Compliance, Accountability, Policy, Ethics – Ed,” or CAPE-Ed, filed the lawsuit, claiming that the University’s failure to mitigate antisemitic acts deprived Jewish and Israeli students of their educational experience on the basis of their national origin, ethnicity and ancestry.
“The years-long failure of GWU to respond to pervasive antisemitic discrimination — among both the students and the faculty — has emboldened its perpetrators and continues to jeopardize the safety, well-being and educational opportunities of Jewish and Israeli students,” the lawsuit states.
Both Title VI and the D.C. Human Rights Act prohibit educational programs from discriminating based on race, national origin and religion. Universities found noncompliant with Title VI by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights could lose their federal funding.
The plaintiffs allege in the filing that the University committed a “breach of contract” with Jewish students by applying a “double standard” in its enforcement of the Code of Student Conduct, arguing that it has investigated and punished instances of hate directed at all groups except Jewish and Israeli students.
“It promptly investigates discrimination against minorities other than Jews and Israelis, and then metes out serious discipline to offenders,” the lawsuit states. “When the victims of discrimination are Jewish or Israeli, however, the GWU administration is slow to respond, quick to excuse and fast to forget.”
The lawsuit requests that the court require the University to enforce its nondiscrimination, Code of Student Conduct and demonstration policies in “an evenhanded way,” develop a “clear” definition of antisemitism including activities that “target” Zionists and allow for “robust scholarly debate” instead of “censoring” pro-Israel viewpoints.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a statement from GW declaring that it violated University policies, D.C. and federal law and the U.S. Constitution, compensatory damages for the harm GW’s negligence caused to the plaintiffs, punitive damages to hold the University accountable and reimbursement for attorney’s fees and legal costs the group incurred in pursuing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also requests a court-appointed monitor, subject to the approval of the plaintiffs, with the power to “audit, report and recommend corrective action” to ensure the University’s compliance with rules, restrictions or directives the judge may set.
University officials said they are reviewing the complaint and taking the plaintiffs’ concerns “extremely” seriously, but they don’t believe the lawsuit reflects their efforts to uphold community values. The officials said GW condemns antisemitism in the “strongest terms” and they are continuing to take “robust action” to support Jewish and Israeli community members.
“The narrative presented in the lawsuit does not reflect our values or the strong measures the university has taken to uphold them,” officials wrote in a statement. “We are reviewing the complaint and will respond to it through the legal process.”
The University has 21 days from when it was served Thursday to respond to the complaint or the plaintiffs will be awarded their judgement by default, according to court documents.
Soffer, a 2025 graduate and a Hatchet opinions writer, said after four years of “raising the alarm” about antisemitism at the University, she is disheartened by officials’ continued failure to act decisively to prevent it.
“GW’s campus has been, and remains a hostile environment for many Jewish and Israeli students,” Soffer said in a text message. “This lawsuit is a call for change, accountability, basic safety and the restoration of a campus community rooted in principle — imperatives that confront a growing pipeline of pernicious campus hate.”
Soffer also penned a letter — which she said about 700 people signed — to officials last week demanding that they rescind the diploma of Cecilia Culver, a student speaker who criticized the University for disciplining pro-Palestinian protesters and refusing to divest from companies tied to Israel during the Columbian College of Arts and Science’s first commencement ceremony. On May 20, officials barred Culver — who graduated from GW in December — from campus, called her actions “inappropriate and dishonest” and said they were reviewing her conduct for policy violations.
Shapiro did not immediately return a request for comment.
GW’s Students for Justice in Palestine, the Student Coalition for Palestine at GWU and Jewish Voice for Peace did not immediately return requests for comment on the allegations made against members of their organizations.
The filing comes months after the U.S. Department of Justice’s Joint Task Force on Antisemitism announced in February that it would visit GW, along with nine other universities that it identified as having experienced “antisemitic incidents” since the onset of the war in Gaza. At the May Faculty Senate meeting, University President Ellen Granberg said “several” visits to universities by the task force appear to be “on hold” after new leadership entered the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division but did not specify if that included GW.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also earlier this year demanded a detailed account of SJP’s activities on campus from Granberg by April 9 as part of an investigation into the group for “antisemitic violence.”
Findings from a House Committee on Education and the Workforce investigation into antisemitism on 11 college campuses released in November claimed that GW failed to sufficiently discipline pro-Palestinian protesters and that University leaders intentionally withheld support for Jewish communities during a “time of need.” The report states that officials have a responsibility as a federally funded university under Title VI to address “hostile environments” for Jewish students.
The National Jewish Advocacy Center, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC and Libby Hoopes Brooks & Mulvey PC are representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The law firms did not immediately return requests for comment.
Here’s a breakdown of the plaintiffs’ claims against GW:
Alleged Title VI, Code of Student Conduct violations
The plaintiffs claim the University did not properly enforce the Code of Student Conduct’s prohibition against discriminatory harassment on behalf of Jewish students during various pro-Palestinian protests on campus since the onset of the war in Gaza.
The lawsuit cites instances of Jewish students being harassed during the encampment, with protesters allegedly yelling “Zionists go to hell” and “We don’t want no Jewish state” at Jewish students, arguing that the University “allowed” the encampment to “take root” on campus rather than taking preventative action. The filing states that such language caused Jewish students on campus to fear for their safety and damaged their mental wellbeing.
It also points to reports from November 2023 that more than a dozen posters depicting Israeli hostages posted inside the GW Hillel building had been torn down. Later that month, officials said they had temporarily suspended and removed a student from campus for allegedly tearing down the posters.
The lawsuit alleges the University did not sufficiently discipline pro-Palestinian demonstrators for their alleged intimidation of and hate speech against Jewish students during protests and the pro-Palestinian encampment, which the lawsuit says “nurtured” antisemitism on campus.
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, 2025, according to the October House Committee on Education and the Workforce report.
The filing claims the University violated Title VI by making the plaintiffs feel “unable” to participate in University life due to continued harassment and threats and the University’s “complicit” nature in the face of discrimination. The University resolved two Title VI complaints in January, one alleging antisemitic harassment and one alleging the University denied mental health services to Palestinian students.
The lawsuit claims one of the plaintiffs changed their major, while another left his fraternity due to antisemitic harassment they had faced on campus.
“Some individuals have reportedly transferred because of the antisemitism they experienced,” the complaint states.
Allegations of GW’s inaction during the pro-Palestinian encampment, insufficient protester discipline
The plaintiffs argue that GW’s inaction during the pro-Palestinian encampment and failure to sufficiently discipline protesters put Jewish and Israeli students in danger and violated University policies and laws including the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit states most Jewish and Israeli students could not avoid U-Yard during the encampment because its pathways are the “main arteries” through campus. It alleges University officials’ directives at the time for community members to avoid the area effectively asked Jewish students to “forego” access to University buildings, facilities and services they were “indisputably entitled” to use.
The lawsuit also argues the University “refused” to impose any “meaningful” disciplinary actions against students who participated in the encampment and some professors who spoke openly in support of it, making Jewish and Israeli students feel uncomfortable and “ostracized” on campus and in classrooms.
In April 2024, pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a 13-day encampment in University Yard to protest the war in Gaza and demand that the University divest from companies with ties to Israel. MPD arrested more than 30 protesters on the 14th day of protest when they cleared the encampment, including at least six GW students.
In August 2024, the University issued suspensions and probations to eight pro-Palestinian organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine, due to their involvement with the encampment. The University also suspended SJP for three months in November 2023 following the group’s projections of anti-Israel and anti-GW messages onto Gelman Library on Oct. 24, 2023.
The University officially suspended SJP for a year on April 14, following a Conflict Education and Student Accountability panel found the group responsible for an “outcome violation,” or not adhering to the terms of prior conduct decision.
The lawsuit alleges that although the University suspended SJP, it did not suspend any of its individual members from the University, which has allowed them to continue “terrorizing” Jewish and Israeli students through new organizations like the Student Coalition for Palestine.
“In other words, the GWU SJP student leaders simply reconstituted the same organization under a new name and promptly resumed their antisemitic agenda without missing a beat,” the filing states.
One plaintiff, which the lawsuit identified as CAPE-Ed member No. 1, alleged that Lance Lokas, the former president of SJP, harassed two Jewish students and “remained free to pursue and promote Jew hatred” despite the students filing reports with the University.
The lawsuit claims that Lokas “stared, laughed and pointed at” one of the plaintiffs who spoke about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in a class, and later spat in the direction of GW for Israel members who were tabling in Kogan Plaza. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff submitted a CESA report against Lokas for spitting at them, but the University “declined to investigate.”
Palestine Legal in April 2024 claimed that GW dropped the “vast majority” of charges that had been filed against SJP and Lokas earlier that year.
“In the eyes of his supporters, and Jews on campus, he was given not even a slap on the wrist, but instead a pat on the back,” the lawsuit states.
Lokas did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations that he spat at members of GW for Israel and laughed at the plaintiff when they spoke about Oct. 7, 2023 in an Egyptian dialect Arabic class.
Alleged creation of a “hostile environment” for Jewish students, Office of Civil Rights investigation
The lawsuit claims the University’s lack of response to instances of antisemitism that violated Title VI and the Faculty Code of Conduct forced the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to hold GW accountable.
The filing comes after GW reached an agreement with OCR to resolve a pair of Title VI complaints alleging antisemitism and anti-Palestinian discrimination filed in 2023. As part of the resolution, the University committed to reevaluating policies to ensure they articulated standards and procedures regarding demonstrations and discrimination, releasing finalized versions for four anti-discrimination policy changes this week.
OCR launched an antisemitism investigation in April 2023 following a January complaint from a pro-Israel advocacy group. The complaint alleged that Laura Sheehi, a former assistant professor of clinical psychology who departed the University in 2024, created a “hostile environment” for certain Jewish and Israeli students during a mandatory diversity course in the Professional Psychology Program.
The OCR in May 2023 also began an investigation into a separate complaint over anti-Palestinian discrimination alleging the University denied mental health services for students perceived to be Palestinian.
The lawsuit alleges that despite documented complaints from “multiple Jewish students” regarding Sheehi’s conduct, University administrators “willfully ignored” violations of the Faculty Code of Conduct and “basic professional standards.” The suit claims that rather than holding Sheehi “accountable,” the University “retaliated unlawfully” by imposing formal disciplinary action against two of the Jewish students who came forward.
“All of this occurred while inflicting tremendous emotional distress, trauma and immeasurable harm on the students who dared to speak up about their mistreatment,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges that the University knew about antisemitism “infecting” its campus because of the OCR complaints, but did not take sufficient actions to stop it, instead attempting to “exonerate” itself of responsibility.
“At a minimum, it demonstrates that GWU was aware that antisemitism had infected all areas of the University and annihilates any argument that the University was caught off guard when the tinderbox they had allowed ignited into violence, vandalism and disruption,” the filing states.
Allegations of antisemitism in GW’s academic partnerships, classrooms
The lawsuit claims the University’s 2019 partnership with Middle East Studies Association, created a “pipeline of hatred” against Jewish and Israeli students by incorporating anti-Israeli perspectives into the University’s academics, which eventually boiled over into protests.
MESA is a nonprofit organization that works to promote the study of the Middle East through educational programs and scholarly publications, according to its website. The plaintiffs allege the leadership of MESA, which included GW faculty, developed programming “deliberately designed” to incite “anti-Zionist hostility” within the University community, like pro-Palestinian film screenings.
“These activities were billed as legitimate academic inquiry, but they systematically suppressed intellectual diversity and ensured that students were not exposed to any pro-Israel perspectives or a full, accurate account of Jewish history,” the lawsuit reads.
MESA members in 2022 voted to endorse the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel movement, an action the lawsuit labeled antisemitic because of its criticism of Israel. The University ended its partnership with MESA in 2023 at the end of a predetermined four-year contract.
The lawsuit also cites examples of University professors allegedly propagating curricula and messages that “foster animus against Jewish students.”
The lawsuit alleges William Youmans, associate professor of media and public affairs, was a “founding leader” of SJP. It states Youmans and other professors, included Amr Madkour — an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology who condemned the University’s repression of pro-Palestinian speech in November 2023 — fanned hate against Israelis, Zionists and Jewish people.
Youmans and Madkour did not immediately return a request for comment.
The suit also alleges the University’s Institute for Middle East Studies programs excluded the perspectives of community members with pro-Israel views after Oct. 7, like Israeli economics and law professor Joseph Pelzman, a member of the institute, even after parent organization GW-JPULSE notified the Institute of its concerns about “biased” programming.
GWU SJP called on officials in February to fire Pelzman for authoring and sending a plan to President Donald Trump proposing the economic redevelopment of the Gaza Strip. The plan calls for the mass excavation of Gaza and the creation of a “sovereign demilitarized green economy” in the territory through the establishment of e-commerce, hotels, an independent energy station and light rail.
Pelzman did not immediately return a request for comment.
The lawsuit states Ilana Feldman, professor of anthropology, history and international affairs and member of the institute has a history of “anti-Israel activism” and has continually voiced support for the BDS movement.
The lawsuit also mentions Michael Barnett, professor of international affairs and political science and member of the institute, stating he has “minimized and legitimized” the events of Oct. 7. Similarly, the lawsuit states Shira Robinson, associate professor of international affairs and history and professor in the institute, has “demonized Israel” and “defended antisemitism.”
Feldman, Barnett and Robinson did not immediately return a request for comment.
The lawsuit states in October 2023, the Institute for Middle East Studies hosted a screening of the film “Israelism,” which the lawsuit claims promotes the message that “denies Jewish peoplehood.” Arie Dubnov, professor of history and international affairs, provided extra credit to students who attended, according to the lawsuit, which “compelled” students to view the “antisemitic propaganda film.”
Dubnov did not immediately return a request for comment.
