Officials at George Washington University suspended the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine until May 2026 for hosting unapproved demonstrations on school property in March, according to an April 14 conduct decision obtained by The Hatchet, GW’s student newspaper.
The suspension prohibits members of SJP from holding any on- or off-campus activities, advertising on campus, using student organization funding or associating with GW in “any capacity” until at least May 18, 2026.
During the suspension period, members of SJP are only allowed to meet to complete sanctions or to talk with their advisor.
Members will be required to attend “teach-ins on university policy” for 10 consecutive semesters. Afterwards, members must abide by a “return from suspension plan” and a full academic year of disciplinary probation, The Hatchet reported.
This decision followed the GW administration’s decision to temporarily suspend SJP in March ahead of a scheduled Palestinian Liberation Week for allegedly attempting to block university officials from attending an approved SJP event earlier that month, according to The Hatchet.
On March 19, members of SJP received a letter from GW’s Conflict Education and Student Accountability office that SJP would be suspended for 21 days, according to a joint Instagram post by SJP and five other student organizations, including GW’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. The letter alleged that SJP’s actions have posed “a threat to the stability and continuance of normal university functions.”
The Instagram post said that members had asked three GW officials — Debra Bright, the associate vice provost for student affairs; Brian Joyce, the assistant dean of student life; and Adam Goldstein, the interim assistant vice provost and dean of students— to leave two of SJP’s events.
As a result, university officials stopped approving SJP’s requests to host on-campus events, a university spokesperson told The Hatchet.
“SJP’s requests were not approved following actions the group took at a recent event to prevent a [Division of Student Affairs] administrator from attending,” the spokesperson said in an email to The Hatchet. “SJP did this despite being informed in advance that the group must permit GW administrators to attend approved events.”
A representative of SJP claimed that the policy hadn’t been in an earlier version of the Student Organization Handbook, which The Hatchet reported was last updated on March 6. The current handbook states that DSA officials have “unrestricted access” to any space a student organization reserves in accordance with university policy. But it’s unclear what was revised in the handbook on March 6.
“[The university administrators’] issue has never been that we actually violate policy — it’s that we unequivocally support the Palestinian people in their struggle against Zionism,” the representative wrote in a text message to The Hatchet.
“GW is once again reaffirming their complicity in the Zionist genocide of Palestinians by silencing students that dissent,” the Instagram post read. “Their attempts to intimidate us are projections of their fear about the power of our movement and the growing consciousness of students.”
