Overview

• The Justice Department concluded that GWU violated Title VI by failing to remedy antisemitic harassment of Jewish, American-Israeli and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian protests in April–May 2024.
• Investigators cited instances in which protesters surrounded students holding Israeli flags, shouted slurs and blocked movement while some campus officials directed victims to leave rather than dispersing demonstrators.
• Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent a notice of findings to President Ellen Granberg and offered GWU a voluntary resolution agreement requiring immediate remediation steps.
• GWU faces an August 22 deadline to enter settlement talks or risk formal enforcement actions that could include suspension of federal research and student-aid funding.
• The action follows similar measures against Columbia, Brown and UCLA and has drawn criticism that it may conflate pro-Palestinian protest with antisemitism and chill campus speech.