Updated: Aug. 18, 2025, at 3:13 p.m.

Conflict Education and Student Accountability suspended Jewish Voice for Peace through May for violating University policies in late April, a sanction that a member of JVP said is pushing the organization to disaffiliate from the University.

JVP entered into disciplinary proceedings over the summer after officials received reports in April alleging multiple instances of misconduct, including discriminatory harassment, where CESA concluded the organization violated policies by hosting an on-campus event without advisor approval and publishing an April 22 social media post that created a “hostile environment” for Jewish students, a University spokesperson confirmed. The group’s latest suspension comes over a year after officials suspended the group through the fall 2024 semester and placed them on probation through spring 2025 for their involvement in spring 2024’s pro-Palestinian encampment.

A member of the organization said JVP has decided to disaffiliate from GW after undergoing multiple conduct proceedings in recent years. 

A University spokesperson said JVP created a hostile environment that targeted Jewish identity, a characteristic that is protected under Title VI, in a social media post. JVP declined to comment on what the social media post was. The group’s outcome violation — which officials granted for not adhering to the terms from prior conduct proceedings — was the result of JVP planning and hosting an event on April 20 without prior advisor approval while under a “limitation of privileges,” according to the conduct violations sheet.

“These updates include the resolution of two cases in which JVP was the respondent,” a University spokesperson said in an email. “These two cases were heard together and collective sanctions were issued, as is often the process when incidents occur in close time proximity.”

The Division for Student Affairs’ list of student organizations with conduct violations was updated in July 2025, according to a University spokesperson, and reflects “anticipated” updates from case resolutions during summer 2025. 

Given the sanctions, a member of JVP, who requested anonymity for fear of University repression, said the organization made the decision to disaffiliate from GW as a whole but will continue pursuing “the student struggle.”

“At this critical moment, anti-Zionist Jewish students will continue to organize and pressure the university to divest from genocide and protect its students amid an attack against immigrants and anti-Zionists in academia and across the country,” the member said in an email.

JVP last faced conduct proceedings following the pro-Palestinian encampment in U-Yard during spring 2024, which protested the ongoing war in Gaza and demanded officials drop disciplinary charges against pro-Palestinian protesters, disclose investments and divest from companies tied to Israel. The encampment lasted 13 days from late April into early May, before Metropolitan Police Department officers cleared it early in the morning on May 8 and arrested 33 protesters.

University officials found JVP responsible for access without authorization, community disturbance, disorderly conduct, misconduct related to property, non-compliance and a regulation violation as a result of the encampment. JVP faced a semester-long suspension for the fall 2024 semester, followed by a semester-long probationary period during the spring 2025 semester. 

JVP’s encampment-related sanctions matched the sanctions officials levied on other student organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine. Officials placed other organizations, like the Arab Student Association and GW Dissenters, on disciplinary probation instead of a suspension.

The sanctions also included charges from a protest during an event featuring U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield earlier in April 2024, when protesters draped a large Palestinian flag off the roof of 1959 E Street — the residence hall next to the Elliott School of International Affairs. The Student Coalition for Palestine listed JVP as one of 18 co-sponsors for the protest in an Instagram post.

A University spokesperson said CESA began investigating the most recent incidents after receiving a report in April, though the spokesperson didn’t specify who filed the report. During the summer, officials conducted a “panel-level process” to allow JVP to respond to the allegations, one of two typical CESA processes.

JVP and CESA completed conduct proceedings, including the appeals process, in their entirety before the conduct violations sheet was updated in late July, according to a University spokesperson.  

The JVP member said the organization received “disorganized and protracted” communications from CESA in May informing the organization of three separate conduct violations stemming from three separate instances.

“Without meeting a preponderance of evidence for such allegations, involving absurd claims of antisemitism, on July 7, we were found responsible for two of these charges and suspended until at least May 18, 2026,” the member said in an email.

The member said as part of JVP’s return from suspension plan, the group must receive advisor approval for all social media posts and has several other conditions that must be met, but the member did not specify what the exact conditions are. 

The group is required to complete a return from suspension plan and a return from probation plan at the end of their year-long suspension in 2026 and probation until spring 2027. JVP is also required to develop social media guidelines, change their social media handle and provide a semesterly review of conduct history for the next 10 semesters, according to the conduct violations sheet.

“Following the period of suspension, sanctions will continue to various degrees until 2032 — a blatant and cowardly attempt to muzzle and incapacitate the only anti-Zionist Jewish organization on campus from functioning entirely,” they said.

The member said the organization decided not to appeal the CESA decision because all other appeals the organization had submitted in the past were rejected by University officials, one of the main reasons the organization decided to disaffiliate. The member said the organization also attributed the decision to disaffiliate because of the recent sanctions University officials levied on the group over the summer.

A University spokesperson did not specify whether the group submitted an appeal, but did say officials updated the conduct violations sheet after the conduct process — including appeals — was completed.   

The member said officials have attempted to “erase us from campus entirely” instead of meeting with students to discuss their demands, similar to the demands pro-Palestinian students had during the encampment, including divestment from companies with connections to Israel. They also said the organization rejects the recent DOJ investigation into GW and its findings, calling it “platitudes made in the interest of political gain.”

“We will continue to demand divestment, the protection of students with a true sanctuary campus and the removal of the architect of ethnic cleansing, Joseph Pelzman,” they said.

During the spring semester, student organizations, including JVP, called on officials to declare GW a “sanctuary campus,” demanding officials bar immigration and law enforcement officers from campus. In February, SJP called on the University to fire Joseph Pelzman, an economics professor with connections to President Donald Trump’s Gaza redevelopment plan.

On Tuesday, GW officials received a letter from the Department of Justice informing them they had violated Title VI and had acted “deliberately indifferent” to antisemitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric on campus, referencing several incidents during the encampment. The letter gave officials the opportunity to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement or else face “enforcement” of the law if officials do not respond by Aug. 22.

University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said officials are reviewing the letter and will respond in a “timely manner,” but did not say whether they would pursue the voluntary resolution agreement. She said the University has taken “appropriate action” to protect community members and hold groups accountable, including those from the encampment.  

During the encampment, JVP hosted a Shabbat dinner for protesters and held a teach-in on Jewish solidarity with Palestinians. JVP posted a statement on Instagram expressing support and solidarity with the encampment six days after protesters established it.

When JVP received the encampment-related sanctions, the organization had just completed a semester of disciplinary probation stemming from two protests in early December 2023. The organization was charged, along with Black Defiance, GW Dissenters and Socialist Action Initiative — then known as Students Against Imperialism — with conduct violations following proceedings from a protest at University President Ellen Granberg’s F Street House and a rally in Kogan Plaza before marching to the F Street House.

All four organizations sanctioned also faced “restorative justice action” through the conclusion of spring 2026, according to the August 2024 conduct violations sheet.

Along with JVP, Students for Justice in Palestine faced similar sanctions this year following conduct proceedings in April. The group was suspended for a year for hosting unapproved events in March. SJP was also suspended for an additional year, until spring 2027, for an incident in February for disorderly conduct, according to the conduct violation sheet.

The sanctions resulted from a social media post, which was deemed threatening due to its language and the inclusion of a picture of a faculty member’s office, according to the sheet. SJP posted photos of Pelzman’s office in Monroe Hall in February amid their calls for GW to fire him.

This post was updated to reflect the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly reported that SJP was suspended for one year stemming from their conduct proceedings in April. SJP was suspended until spring 2027 for additional charges due to an incident in February, according to the conduct violation sheet.