"Danger, Will Robinson"
Rising, nothing good can come from posting about this situation on this forum. There's so many other venues to vent your frustrations.
Also, a forum to discuss the sad state of affairs for GW Basketball shouldn't even be mentioned together with the real world issues going on today.

Rising, this is not to defend the other side of this matter but is instead intended to explain it.  This school, and many others around the country, are flat out afraid to even condemn free speech.  Because no matter how outrageous you or I may consider the rhetoric to be, there will be another side claiming that they're free speech rights are being violated.

Earlier this year, Dr. Lara Sheehi, a GW diversity course professor of all things, was exonerated from charges of antisemitism.  This review which was conducted independently, found that a few of the students in the class advocated for an expansive view of the definition of antisemitism which, if accepted in the university environment, could infringe upon free speech principles and academic freedom. 

This professor tweeted from her own personal account (which does not violate GW's social media policies):

Israelis are so fucking racist.
Fuck Zionism
Fuck every person who is not yet an anti-Zionist

And here was the school's statement about these tweets:

"the university strongly denounces the use of profane language directed at any group of people, including in private tweets,” the university said. “Crowell (the investigator) found, however, that the tweets were made in a private Twitter account that was only briefly visible to the public … While the university disapproves of the tone of the tweets, GW policies recognize the right of faculty to articulate their points of view consistent with the university’s strong commitment to academic freedom.”

So quite sadly, GW will likely sit this one out no matter how egregious Palestinians celebrating Jewish deaths may be.
 

Thank you Barry.

I agree 100% with Rising.  The interim President didn't have the balls to call out antisemitism that has raged on campus.  There are numerous examples other than the Jew hating professor who was cleared because the University was afraid of the radical student groups and what they may do (protest/riot/damage property/mar GW's image?).  

Since we have a new President, Ellen Granberg, this is her chance to do the right thing... imagine if another minority was effected/affected?  We put slogans on the basketball court and BLM this and BLM that, but the founder of BLM wants to remove Israel from the map (google or twitter search this one).  

GW must make a stand, and with tomorrow's celebrations of a massacre on our campus and others, we will find out - other than Granberg's statement she put out yesterday or overnight.  

Last edited by Mike K (10/12/2023 11:05 am)

Yes, she put out a word salad statement typical of academia. Threw in a few buzzwords so that it was objectively defensible at some level but not strong enough.

However, two things are underfoot. Many Jewish GW donors are pissed and there is the beginning of a movement to withhold donations if GW allows this to continue.. This will likely get everyone's attention at GW. I am talking about huge donors. Just like there is a right to free speech there is a right to not financially support that which you don't agree with. Second, led mainly by Bill Ackman's efforts at Harvard, I am hearing that there is an effort at GW to identify the students calling for genocide. We will see how employers react and how the students react to learning that words have consequences - just like the law student at NYU found out yesterday when her offer of employment was rescinded by Winston & Strawn because of her hateful rhetoric. These are not babies but young adults who can reasonably be expected to know that calling for genocide of any race or religion in a civilized society is wrong. 

Last edited by GWRising (10/12/2023 10:46 am)

A lot of feelings about this-obviously.Frankly I’m still processing all the information that’s being thrown at all of us.More later when I get my shit together.For now I want to thank Mayhem and especially Rising for getting 
the ball rolling on this issue .Big props to Rising.

Let's start with the most basic of chants by SJP ... "From the river to sea, Palestine will be free". So the notion is from the Jordan River to Mediterranean sea will be controlled by Palestinians. What happens to Israelis and Israel? Ask SJP. They will tell you. GENOCIDE

Let's go to the next chant - "Long Live Hamas." This is akin to saying Long Live Nazis, Long Live ISIS, Long Live OBL. All of these entities have one common goal among many - kill the Jews. GENOCIDE

Let's go to the next chant - "Hey hey hey ho Israel has got to go" Again, ask SJP what they mean. Israel wiped off the planet. GENOCIDE.

Now let's look at their tactics of protesting in America outside of Jewish but not Israeli entities. This happened right here at GW. Protested outside of Hillel last year. Hillel is not an Israeli organization. Why? Because it is all Jews that are the problem in their eyes. GENOCIDE.

SJP has told you who they are. When someone tells you who they are, believe them.

So we have Universities trying to play the both sides game with Genocide. No thanks. All of a sudden free speech is paramount. What if someone on campus called a rally and said "Kill all the gays" or expressed euphemisms for the same? These very same Universities would spring into action faster than I can type this and rightfully so. They should do the same for Jews without equivocation. 

To be fair, some universities have taken a stronger stand - I believe Florida and Arizona are among them. It's unfortunate that there are others like GW and Harvard who try to have it both ways. There is no having it both ways with SJP and the hate they preach and believe in.

SJP should be banished from campus as a GW student organization, plain and simple. And if individuals speak these things publicly they should be brought up on violations of student conduct the same way they would be as if someone told gays at GW they should all be dead.

Last edited by GWRising (10/13/2023 11:47 am)

Not to be too flip because this is a very serious matter but if GW is going to continue to allow SJP to spew their bile maybe they could at least officially acknowledge it as "Hamas GW" moving forward.

I warned 14 days ago about this. GW took a weak both sides approach and now they see what it got them - donors are bailing now - why would they financially support a school which passively supports this hate speech?

The perpetrators should be kicked out of GW at a minimum and perhaps criminally charged. GW should threaten the same for any future acts. Zero tolerance immediately or the consequences will be devastating for GW. This is not free speech but hate speech. It is designed to intimidate, harass, and injure.

It is time for the adults to regain control and put these assholes in their place.

University released this statement today:

https://president.gwu.edu/outlining-road-ahead-our-community?fbclid=IwAR2wJn-Udg7Gjtaotkl32WajBRg_lQIAzmZ1J0Px_GUNbUuaO89ph5bOeC4