A recently updated list of student groups with conduct violations confirms that George Washington University sanctioned nine organizations last August for their involvement in a two-week pro-Hamas encampment that took place in May, The GW Hatchet reported on Monday.
According to the online student groups conduct violations sheet, which was updated in December, the school’s Conflict Education & Student Accountability suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace at GW through December 2024 and placed them on disciplinary probation until May 2025. The list also shows that the GW Student Coalition for Palestine, along with six other groups — the Muslim Students Association, GW Dissenters, Black Defiance, Arab Student Association, Asian American Student Association, and Socialist Action Initiative — were placed on disciplinary probation.
University spokesperson Julia Metjian stated that federal law and University policies prevent GW from commenting or providing details about specific student conduct cases.
At the new GWU encampment, protestors chant, “there is only one solution, intifada revolution” until the police show up, and then they chant, “oink, oink, piggy, piggy, we’re going to make your lives sh*tty.”
They also instruct people to lock arms, etc. pic.twitter.com/BffLhuqeCO
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) May 10, 2024
According to the Division for Student Affairs at GWU, Student Group and Organizations with Conduct Violations, provides a summary of each incident where a student organization was found to have violated the Code of Student Conduct. It includes details on the charges the organization was found to have violated and any sanctions that affect the organization’s status on campus.
The online summary focuses on the incident and the organization, rather than individual students. Educational sanctions, which may have been assigned to organizations, are not listed there but are part of the overall outcomes. Starting in the Spring of 2024, educational sanctions have been added to the outcomes. The information posted on this page remains available for four semesters after the finding or completion of sanctions, whichever is longer, to offer insight into an organization’s history and its efforts to change the group’s culture.
The sanctions include:
• Warning
• Censure
• Disciplinary Probation
• Limitation of Privileges
• Social Probation
• Removal of Housing Lease Agreement
• Suspension
• Revocation of Recognition
According to the sheet, GW found all nine organizations responsible for several violations, including community disturbance, unauthorized access, disorderly conduct, noncompliance, and misconduct related to property, as a result of hosting an “unapproved” encampment in University Yard. Additionally, SJP, Dissenters, Black Defiance, and SAI were charged with violating the terms of prior conduct decisions, which required preapproval for all events.
The sheet further states that GW placed Black Defiance, Dissenters, and SAI on disciplinary probation after allegedly co-hosting an unapproved demonstration on April 11, 2024. During the protest, demonstrators condemned an event featuring the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations at the Elliott School of International Affairs and hung a large Palestinian flag from the roof of 1959 E Street. This incident violated an additional sanction resulting from a previous protest on December 8, 2023, where attendees delivered a petition with over 1,000 alumni signatures to University President Ellen Granberg, calling for the reinstatement of GW SJP after their initial suspension for projecting anti-Israel and anti-GW phrases onto Gelman Library in October 2023.
