On the 12th day of a pro-Palestinian encampment, protesters at George Washington University are pushing back against criticism from the D.C. school’s president who called the demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war “illegal and potentially dangerous.”
Protesters have said they are awaiting a meeting with university president Ellen Granberg, who spoke out against the encampment in a letter addressed to the GW community on Sunday.
Around a half-dozen speakers answered questions through a megaphone during a Monday news conference amid hopes of a possible cease-fire in Gaza. Protesters did not identify themselves by name to the crowd of reporters; some of them were masked and many were wearing Palestinian kaffiyeh scarves. Several of the speakers said they are GW students.
The GW protests come as universities around the country grapple with similar encampments. Police have cleared out some of those demonstrations, with both student and non-student protesters facing charges.
At times, the group of D.C. protesters challenged assertions made by Granberg over the weekend, including her statement that the university has “conducted regular and sustained dialogues with GW students connected to the camp.”
Protesters said Granberg has denied their requests for a meeting.
“We have been clear about our desire to negotiate and even clearer about the administration’s desire to ignore us,” said Lila, a student protester. ” Make no mistake, this encampment is an organized effort rooted in a trusted team of students waiting at the negotiation table since day one for the administration to listen.”
In the letter, Granberg also wrote: “It is clear that this is no longer a GW student demonstration.”
She said the protests have been “co-opted by individuals who are largely unaffiliated with our community and do not have our community’s best interest in mind.”
One protester said Monday that the demonstrators have been open about their inclusion of students from other D.C. universities. He pointed out that the university is an “urban campus” that’s open to the public, and non-students regularly walk through.
“Anyone is welcome to partake in the community and that’s obviously not encampment rules, that’s the university rules,” he told reporters.
The group declined to comment on how many demonstrators are students at GW or other local universities, citing concerns about safety.
“The encampment itself, though, is led, organized and pushed on by the motivation of the students,” he continued.
Granberg wrote in her letter that protesters have intimidated “GW students with antisemitic images and hateful rhetoric.”
A participant called that accusation “completely baseless.”
As far as whether the campus encampment will continue past GW’s graduation commencement, a speaker said the protests won’t end until the group’s demands are met.
Demonstrators have pushed for the local universities to divest from Israel and disclose endowments and academic partnerships with the Middle Eastern nation. The group also wants the school to lift the suspensions against eight GWU students who they said were penalized for participating in the encampment.
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