A task force has been unanimously approved by student leaders at George Washington University to investigate antisemitism on campus.
The Student Senate passed with a majority vote Student Association President Christian Zidouemba”s executive order to launch the task force, which will look into the “scourge” of antisemitism at the Washington DC university, the George Washington Hatchet campus newspaper reported.
Zidouemba”s executive order was signed in late January. Executive orders must be approved by the Senate according to existing bylaws.
During the hearing over 20 students spoke in-person or virtually in favor of the task force.
The university has one of the largest Jewish student populations in the United States, according to Hillel.
Multiple instances of antisemitism, including vandalism, have been reported at George Washington University.
“It”s been a really bad year for Jews at GW,” a student told the Jewish Journal. “It”s clear that events like the one in my class are related to the string of horrific antisemitic incidents at GW: desecration of a Torah scroll, folks chanting [and] promoting the intifada, and that”s just the tip of the iceberg.”
In October 2021, vandals broke into the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house, trashing Jewish holy books, including a Torah scroll.
The Jewish on Campus group tweeted that during the break-in, a Torah scroll was destroyed. The group also released a picture of the scroll, which was not only torn up but also covered in laundry detergent.
Only days later, a Jewish student reported that her mezuzah was stolen from the doorpost of her dorm room door and defaced.
The damaged mezuzah showed up back on her door on Tuesday morning after she called on social media for it to be returned.
Student Emma Reese told the GW Hatched that the mezuzah had been unwrapped and rewrapped, and that a torn bead had been ripped off, which seemed to indicate that someone had tried to get at the prayers inside of it.
In January 2023, the university opened an investigation into whether a psychology professor displayed antisemitic behavior in her interactions with Jewish and Israeli students.
The investigation was prompted by a federal complaint filed by the pro-Israel watchdog group StandWithUs, which quoted graduate psychology students alleging that they had been targeted last fall by their professor due to “their Jewish and Israeli identities.”
“It”s not your fault you were born in Israel,” the professor allegedly told students, prompting the university to launch the investigation.
