A Justice Department investigation has found George Washington University officials “deliberately indifferent” to complaints of antisemitism in pro-Palestinian campus protests last year.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon informed the private D.C. campus in a Tuesday notice that its failure to stop the harassment of Jewish and Israeli students during a two-week tent encampment in the spring of 2024 violated federal civil rights laws.
She said the federal agency’s Civil Rights Division will pursue an enforcement action if school officials don’t accept a “voluntary resolution agreement.”
“Every student has the right to equal educational opportunities without fear of harassment or abuse,” Ms. Dhillon said in a statement. “No one is above the law, and universities that promulgate antisemitic discrimination will face legal consequences.”
Spokeswoman Shannon McClendon said George Washington University was reviewing the notice and would respond “in a timely manner.”
She added in a statement emailed to The Washington Times that antisemitism “has absolutely no place” on college campuses and that the university worked with Jewish groups and government officials to keep it that way.
“We have taken appropriate action under university policy and the law to hold individuals or organizations accountable, including during the encampment, and we do not tolerate behavior that threatens our community or undermines meaningful dialogue,” Ms. McClendon said.
George Washington, Harvard, Columbia and other private universities have clashed with the Trump administration over claims they failed to address antisemitic slurs, assaults and threats in protests against Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Gaza.
Ms. Dhillon said in Tuesday’s notice that investigators discovered at least eight complaints that protesters occupying George Washington’s University Yard from April 24 to May 8 last year created a “hostile educational environment” for Jewish students attempting to take final exams and graduate.
Metropolitan Police Department officers ultimately cleared the encampment in response to a formal request from the university.
The Justice Department’s notice sparked condemnation on Tuesday from Muslim activists and praise from some Jewish civil liberties watchdogs.
“Like many spineless so-called leaders at other universities, [GW] allowed antisemites, violent operatives and useful idiots to take over their grounds and perpetrate offenses reminiscent of 1930s Germany,” said a spokesperson for StopAntisemitism.org. “Kudos to the DOJ for holding GW and other colleges accountable.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has designated GW as a “hostile campus” for Muslim students, insisted that school officials have been more inclined to ignore the destruction of Muslim prayer mats and Qurans.
The group pointed to a Jan. 17 resolution agreement between GW and the outgoing Biden administration. In it, the Justice Department concluded that GW officials discriminated against a pro-Palestinian student while investigating unsubstantiated allegations of antisemitism in a 2023 psychology course.
“By ignoring George Washington University’s record of anti-Palestinian racism, which dates to at least 2015, and more recent alleged destruction of Islamic worship materials, the Trump administration signals that its interest remains silencing dissent rather than protecting people of faith,” said Corey Saylor, CAIR’s research and advocacy director.
According to some legal scholars, the Trump administration’s civil rights probes will push higher education officials to look more closely at the complaints of Jewish students and alumni.
“It’s these investigations that will drag higher-ed institutions to honor their duties to their students,” said Ilya Shapiro, a libertarian constitutional law scholar at the conservative Manhattan Institute.
“This seems yet another instance where the Trump administration is closely scrutinizing how universities treated Jewish students in the wake of Oct. 7,” added Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston.
