by Aaron Bandler
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who founded the GW Chabad, told JNS that the university hasn't handled Jew-hatred well since Oct. 7 but is making improvements.
George Washington University, an urban campus in Washington, D.C., with some 4,500 Jewish students, violated federal civil rights law in its “deliberate indifference” to antisemitic incidents on campus that were “objectively offensive, severe and pervasive,” the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
The private school ignored a “hostile educational environment for Jewish, American-Israeli and Israeli students and faculty,” the Trump administration said. “GW took no meaningful action and was instead deliberately indifferent to the complaints it received, the misconduct that occurred and the harms that were suffered by its Jewish and Israeli students and faculty.”
The Justice Department, which reportedly sought a settlement with University of California, Los Angeles worth $1 billion, said it will “seek immediate remediation with GW for its civil rights violations.”
“Every student has the right to equal educational opportunities without fear of harassment or abuse,” stated Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant U.S. attorney general. “No one is above the law, and universities that promulgate antisemitic discrimination will face legal consequences.”
GW is “one of the most active and rapidly growing Jewish campus communities in North America,” according to Hillel International. The Hillel on campus, which debuted a new building in 2021, was founded in the 1930s.
In a letter to Ellen Granberg, the GW president, Dhillon wrote that “the antisemitic, hate-based misconduct by GW students directed at Jewish GW students, faculty and employees was, in a word, shocking.”
The Justice Department found “numerous” cases, in which protesters harassed, threatened or attacked Jewish students. “The behavior was demonstrably abhorrent, immoral and, most importantly, illegal,” Dhillon wrote.
The letter noted the antisemitic “encampment” at the private school and other disruptions in April and May 2024 that took place “during final examinations and graduation ceremonies.”
“The purpose of the agitators’ efforts was to frighten, intimidate and deny Jewish, Israeli and American-Israeli students free and unfettered access to GW’s educational environment. This is the definition of hostility and a ‘hostile environment,’” Dhillon wrote. “To be clear, Jewish students were afraid to attend class, to be observed or, worse, to be ‘caught’ and perhaps physically beaten on GW’s campus.”
GW police officers either ignored attacks on Jewish students or told the latter to leave the area, per the Justice Department.
Jewish students, parents and alumni contacted GW, including at least eight complaints alleging anti-Jewish bias between April 25 and May 1, 2024, but the Justice Department said that its probe revealed that “GW took no meaningful action and instead was deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment on its campus in violation of Title VI.”
Under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights act, it is illegal to discriminate based on shared characteristics, including national origin and religion.
The Justice Department “intends to proceed with enforcement of this important federal civil rights law unless resolution of this matter is reached in the near future,” Dhillon wrote. “The department therefore offers GW the opportunity to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement to ensure immediate remediation of these issues and related reforms to prevent the recurrence of discrimination, harassment and abuse.”
Shannon McClendon, executive director of media relations at GW, told JNS that the school is reviewing the Justice Department’s letter.
“GW condemns antisemitism, which has absolutely no place on our campuses or in a civil and humane society,” McClendon told JNS. “Our actions clearly demonstrate our commitment to addressing antisemitic actions and promoting an inclusive campus environment by upholding a safe, respectful and accountable environment.”
GW took “appropriate action under university policy and the law to hold individuals or organizations accountable” and has “worked diligently with members of GW’s Jewish community, as well as Jewish community organizations, city and federal authorities to protect the GW community from antisemitism,” McClendon said.
“We remain committed to working with them to ensure every student has the right to equal educational opportunities without fear of harassment or abuse,” she added.
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) and founder of the Chabad at GW, told JNS that the university hasn’t handled Jew-hatred on its campus very well since Oct. 7, but “there are some improvements that are being made.”
Shemtov hopes that the university can resolve things with the federal government “without enforcement, but if they don’t, then it seems enforcement is coming,” he said.
The Chabad rabbi also thinks that there are “many problematic professors, including some who are Jewish” at GW who “literally make the lives of Jewish and pro-Israel students specifically miserable.”
“GW is a wonderful place. It’s going through a difficult period. I believe President Granberg wants to do the right thing, and I hope all those whose support she needs to do so will stand behind her, and that way she can be held accountable,” Shemtov told JNS. “If she is not getting the support she needs, then the blame does get spread around.”
The executive board of GW for Israel told JNS that it recognizes the importance of addressing concerns that the Justice Department raised, but “our experience as a student organization has been marked by collaboration and responsiveness from the administration.”
“Recent efforts, such as measures to ensure campus events are conducted in a respectful and secure manner, reflect the university’s commitment to maintaining a safe and inclusive space for student groups,” it told JNS.
GW Hillel stated that it expects that the university will take steps to “resolve this matter” that “will result in a GW that is safe and welcoming for Jewish students and faculty and where teaching and research can thrive.”
Aaron Bandler
Source: https://www.jns.org/federal-probe-finds-gw-deliberately-indifferent-to-jew-hatred/
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