Why anti-Palestinian universities like GW are on the wrong side of history
An open letter to GW's President after the illiberal clearing of its pro-Palestinian encampment
Dear President Granberg,
My name is Jossif Ezekilov, and I am a double graduate of George Washington University and worked at the University for more than six years. I am writing to express my utter disgust at the violent attack on the pro-Palestinian encampment at University Yard and to demand that you cease your police-assisted assault on the right of pro-Palestinian students to assemble on campus freely.
The violent clearing of the camp early Wednesday morning by Metropolitan police is an uncalled-for and undemocratic response to peaceful protests by Students for Justice in Palestine at GW and other student groups. This attack also occurred hours after students peacefully protested in front of your house, and hours before Mayor Bowser and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith were to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee about protests at GW. A few hours after the police assault, Republican Representative and House Oversight Chairman James Comer cheerfully canceled the hearing due to the clearing of the encampment, which police themselves have said was done in cooperation with university officials.
This chain of events demands an immediate explanation. Otherwise, one can only assume that the encampment's clearing was motivated by political considerations- and perhaps even personal pettiness- rather than a genuine concern for campus safety. If you did indeed collaborate with the Mayor’s Office, the police, and/or members of the Republican party (some of whom visited the campus last week) to endanger students in order to score political points, then you have left an indelible stain on this university and you should tender your resignation immediately.
You are (at least for the time being) presiding over a university that markets itself as a liberal academic institution that gives students the opportunity to “come to demand change and to be that change”; “to make history”; and to “gain an education unlike any other”. Just a year ago, this University rightfully undertook a rebranding of its moniker from the problematic “Colonials” to the “Revolutionaries”, in order to reflect the spirit of GW students who “are not afraid to break boundaries and change the game. The GW Revolutionaries go beyond what is conventional or expected to focus on shifting mindsets and creating a new future for ourselves and our world.”
And yet, when GW students embodied this Revolutionary spirit, you responded with unabashed Colonialism.
When these students came together to “demand change and to be that change” you responded by stamping out their efforts in favor of a Zionist status quo. This response is not limited to the underhanded actions on Wednesday but has been the university’s modus operandi from the start of the student protests. Merely days after the genocide in Gaza began, you condemned a vigil for Palestinians killed in the initial bombings as a “celebration of terrorism”. Then, in November, you suspended Students for Justice in Palestine at GW for a nonviolent act of protest (just like this morning, this suspension was suspiciously meted right after pressure from politicians). Several weeks later, when a truck doxing pro-Palestinian protestors arrived on campus, you reacted with meaningless bluster and inaction. And yet, after all of this, you issued a statement this Sunday that falsely and hypocritically claimed that you “support and encourage our community to speak out and engage in controversial and critical dialogues” while pleading for good faith from students when you provided none.
When these students sought “to make history,” you steadfastly stood on the wrong side of it. In so doing, you have joined the ranks of your colleagues in other supposedly progressive universities in telling tall tales about a desire to create spaces for tomorrow’s changemakers, while violently bringing down the ones in your very sight. The students at University Yard are part of a national movement demanding nothing more than for their tuition dollars, which they will likely have to work tirelessly to pay off, not to be used to abet an active genocide. In so doing, they continue the spirit of generations of anti-war protestors, civil rights demonstrations, and other truly Revolutionary acts that have moved this country forward.
In curtailing these students’ efforts you, and others like you, have proven yourself to be the white moderate that Dr. Martin Luther King warned us about from his Birmingham jail cell in 1963, “the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”
When these students created a space to “gain an education unlike any other,” you actively destroyed this endeavor. When I visited the encampment last week, I saw none of the violence and vitriol you described in your last statement. Instead, I saw not only the most peaceful protest I have ever encountered, but also a space of empathy, understanding, and learning unlike any other. Students had organized University Yard into a high-functioning community, providing food, information, and other services (and frankly, in a more efficient manner than some University departments). Students were putting into practice skills like logistics, budgeting, public speaking, sustainability, active listening, and media training, among many others. The supposedly dangerous environment you described was little more than lectures, testimonies, film screenings, and quiet time for exams. The only source of violence was caused by a non-university member yelling insults at protestors on a bullhorn. While university police looked on disinterestedly, student organizers took control of the situation, deescalated tensions, and successfully avoided further altercations. In your inability to see this encampment as the ultimate educational opportunity, I sincerely question your competence as a university president in particular, and that of university officials in general.
When these students sought to “break boundaries and change the game,” you enforced those boundaries in bad faith to keep the “game” as it is. Here, I suspect, lies the real reason behind GW’s violent response to students’ demands. In calling for transparency and divestment, pro-Palestinian students are calling not just for an end to support of Zionism, but an end to “business as usual” for this university. Like many similar institutions, GW depends on student tuition as both a revenue source (46% as of GW’s last financial statement) and a credit line for its uninterrupted spending over the last two decades. While students do indeed invest in themselves by paying for an education at GW, they are also de facto guarantors of the large-scale real estate and other non-academic investments that boost GW’s endowment and your generous salary. What the students are demanding amounts to a change in the relationship between the student and the university, moving from a client-provider model to something closer to an investor-investee one. And while that would indeed be a positive game changer, somehow, I suspect that is not the type of change that GW officials want to highlight in the university’s flowery recruitment literature. Students might raise uncomfortable questions about whether their ever-increasing tuition bills are really worth what GW provides, especially after seeing how you treat students who ask uncomfortable questions.
Let me assure you that, despite the best efforts of yourself and other like-minded white moderates, these students will create a new future for themselves and our world. It is your choice whether you continue to devote university efforts to order rather than justice or allow GW’s true Revolutionaries to pursue a “positive peace.” Choosing the latter option would, in mind, entail the following actions:
Ending your assault on pro-Palestinian students and their right to assembly on campus.
Reversing any suspensions or disciplinary action of students involved in these protests.
Allowing for an independent investigation into whether the University acted illegally or unethically in its response to pro-Palestinian protests on its campus.
Beginning a good faith dialogue and a legitimate process to meet student demands.
Or, if you are unable or unwilling to do any of these actions, to tender your resignation.
If you continue to pursue efforts towards a “negative peace,” let me assure you that I will continue to pursue efforts to negatively impact the two things this university seemingly cares about most - its reputation and its bottom line. I have talked to many fellow alumni to persuade them to stop their donations and other support to the University until student demands are met and will continue to do so. I also know I am not alone in this endeavor, and that many others support my views on this matter.
I hope you make the right choice.
Sincerely,
Jossif Ezekilov
AKA “The incredibly handsome guy on the front page of your
Graduate Admissions website”