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The U.S. Division of Justice on Tuesday accused George Washington College of being “intentionally detached” to harassment of Jewish, American-Israeli and Israeli college students and school.
The Justice Division, in an company discover, cited a pro-Palestinian encampment on GWU’s College Yard for 2 weeks in the course of the spring 2024 time period. The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Division cleared the encampment on Might 8, arresting almost three dozen folks within the course of.
A few week earlier, MPD had refused the college’s request to clear the encampment, and Police Chief Pamela Smith mentioned the division had no plans to take away the demonstrators so long as they had been peaceable. When police finally cleared out the encampment, MPD cited a “gradual escalation within the volatility of the protest.”
The Justice Division has now accused GWU of violating Title VI, which bars federally funded establishments from discriminating on the idea of race, shade or nationwide origin.
GWU is the newest college beneath hearth from the Trump administration for allegedly not doing sufficient to guard college students and workers from antisemitism.
These accusations are sometimes adopted by threats that schools will lose huge swaths of their federal funding until they undertake sweeping coverage adjustments. Some Jewish lawmakers have accused President Donald Trump of weaponizing antisemitism to assault schools.
The Trump administration is seeking to negotiate with GWU, because it has with different establishments in its crosshairs. The discover of violation states that the Justice Division is providing to enter a “voluntary decision settlement” with the college.
Within the discover, the Justice Division alleges GWU leaders had been intentionally detached to a number of incidents.
It says one Jewish scholar described “being surrounded, harassed, threatened, after which ordered to depart the realm instantly by antisemitic protesters.” In one other occasion, the discover says a Jewish scholar holding up an Israeli flag close to the encampment was surrounded by protesters who had linked arms “for the aim of limiting the Jewish scholar’s actions.”
In a public assertion on Tuesday, GWU mentioned it’s reviewing the Justice Division’s discover.
“GW condemns antisemitism, which has completely no place on our campuses or in our civil society,” the college mentioned within the assertion. “Furthermore, our actions clearly display our dedication to addressing antisemitic actions and selling an inclusive campus atmosphere by upholding a protected, respectful, and accountable atmosphere.”
The Trump administration lately hit the College of California, Los Angeles with related accusations.
In late July, the Justice Division alleged that UCLA had additionally violated civil rights legislation. Like with GWU, Trump administration officers pointed to a pro-Palestinian encampment erected within the spring 2024 time period that college officers cleared after a couple of week.
The Trump administration rapidly suspended $584 million in federal funding, a transfer that introduced College of California system leaders to the negotiating desk in hopes of restoring the cash.
Nonetheless, UC President James Milliken mentioned in an announcement on Aug. 6 that the funding cuts “do nothing to deal with antisemitism” and accused the Trump administration of ignoring each the system and UCLA’s efforts to fight antisemitism.
Simply two days later, the Justice Division proposed a settlement with the college — a whopping $1 billion penalty.
Milliken issued a fast and blunt rebuke. “As a public college, we’re stewards of taxpayer sources and a cost of this scale would fully devastate our nation’s best public college system in addition to inflict nice hurt on our college students and all Californians,” he mentioned in an Aug. 8 assertion.
