The official reason that more than 100 college students from across Washington gathered in a ballroom at George Washington University last week was for a formal dinner billed as an opportunity to build bridges between the Black and Jewish communities.

But what really got the students — undergrads from GWU, American, George Mason, Georgetown, Howard and the University of the District of Columbia — talking at this event, which was meant to highlight commonalities and spark deep connections between students from different backgrounds, was a breezy icebreaker: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

That was one of several lighthearted prompts for the students to discuss as they settled into dinner and got to know each other at tables of 10. Later, after they had introduced themselves and playfully debated topics like who would play them in a movie and their least favorite internet trends, the students turned to more personal questions about identity, community and belonging. It was an exercise carefully calibrated to build connection free from rancor, where the students could speak about themselves and their identities as racial and religious minorities without fear of judgment. 

“Every single time, I am amazed at the discussion and how vulnerable people will be,” said Arielle Levy, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at Hillel International. Levy shepherded the students through the increasingly more serious questions during last week’s dinner program. “I just really hope it leads to action, because that’s really what we’re hoping for.”

Formally dubbed the “Unity Dinner,” the event was sponsored by Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance, Hillel International and the United Negro College Fund. The Washington event was one of 14 such events taking place in cities across the country this academic year. It is an expansion on a pilot project, which began last year with the core belief that rebuilding the storied — but strained — Black-Jewish alliance of the Civil Rights Movement must start at a grassroots, interpersonal level. After seven unity dinners last year connecting Black and Jewish students, the funders became convinced that supporting dialogue in intimate settings like this is one of the best ways to fight hate. 

“You see this micro-connection that starts to build understanding and awareness,” Tara Levine, Blue Square Alliance’s chief partnership officer, told Jewish Insider at the dinner. “Then over time, that builds empathy, and that becomes something that students share with one another, within their communities, across communities. It is ultimately how we address the underlying divide and start to overcome some of the hate that we’re seeing.”

The students all had different reasons for coming. Some wanted to meet new people. Others were excited by the prospect of putting off homework for a few hours. Several learned of it from professors who piqued their curiosity.

“I actually take a class on the Holocaust and modern-day politics at Howard University, and my professor is Jewish, and he told us about the specific event that we could come out to,” said Joy Baker, a freshman at the historically Black university. “We were automatically interested.”

The whole idea of bringing Black and Jewish students together over dinner, with no agenda beyond getting to know one another, began in Atlanta with John Eaves, a professor at Spelman College who is both Black and Jewish. He is well-versed in the history of Black and Jewish activists working together during the Civil Rights Movement; his own synagogue, The Temple, was bombed for its support of civil rights in 1958 — but now, Eaves sees that knowledge has lapsed among younger generations in both communities.

“One day, I heard a Baptist preacher tell me that he felt that Jews were unlikely allies. What?” said Eaves, who is also the program director of the Tikkun Olam Initiative and Social Innovation Fund at the United Negro College Fund, an organization that provides financial support to historically Black colleges and universities. “That spoke to the possibility, but it also spoke to the challenge. They’re allies, but he did not think of Jews as allies. I see this as planting the seed.” 

The discussions don’t directly touch on Israel, but the dinner organizers said that the events happening in the Middle East have not kept people away from the events. The main impact Eaves has seen is on American Jews’ wariness toward once-allied communities who they felt had abandoned them after the Oct. 7 attacks two years ago. He encouraged Jews, even those who still feel raw, to not yet write off their wayward allies, and to follow the lead of the college students.

“I think the Jewish community felt sucker punched by Oct. 7, and felt like there’s very few people who have been there for us. There’s a degree of sensitivity right now, in terms of ‘nobody’s really there for us,’” said Eaves.

“This type of thing is doable. The Jewish community has to understand the power of the ask, not minimize our ability to make the ask. People respond in a positive way. That’s the piece that I think is missing, the limited number of asks that are made,” Eaves added. “Make the ask. All people can say is no.”

At tables throughout the room, over soda and parve desserts, students spoke from the heart: What brings them pride in their community? What gives them a sense of belonging? When have they felt fully free? And were there any commonalities in the answers of students from different backgrounds? 

Baker, the Howard student, said she learned things that surprised her, “like how much the Jewish community and the Black community are low key kind of the same.” 

By the end of the night, the room was abuzz with the excited chatter of new friends, who had already set up group chats and followed each other on Instagram. Most said they planned to attend a Passover Seder at Howard in the spring, but many hope to meet up sooner — made easier by grants available from Hillel International to encourage continued dialogue. 

The students smiled and laughed as they walked out the door, talking with people they did not know two hours ago. They each were carrying something that is sure to excite all college students, regardless of race, religion or university: a free T-shirt from the event.

George Washington University became the latest target of the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus antisemitism on Tuesday when the Department of Justice notified the D.C. private school that it is in violation of federal civil rights law. 

In a letter addressed to GW President Ellen Granberg, the DOJ described the university administration as “deliberately indifferent” to antisemitism on campus and claimed that it took “no meaningful action” to combat increased antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks. More than 25% of the undergraduate students on GW’s campus identify as Jewish. 

The letter called the anti-Israel encampment that overtook the center of GW’s campus for nearly two weeks in 2024 a “hostile environment” where “Jewish students [were] being harassed, abused, intimidated and assaulted by protesters.” The encampment, which began on April 25, was cleared on May 8 just hours before a planned Capitol Hill hearing on the D.C. government’s handling of the protest, after repeated public requests for assistance from GW’s administration. 

“Based on its investigation, the Department has concluded that GW took no meaningful action and instead was deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment on its campus in violation of Title VI,” the letter said.   

“We have received the letter and are currently reviewing its contents to respond in a timely manner,” Shannon McClendon, a GW spokesperson, told Jewish Insider. 

“GW condemns antisemitism, which has absolutely no place on our campuses or in a civil and humane society. Moreover, our actions clearly demonstrate our commitment to addressing antisemitic actions and promoting an inclusive campus environment by upholding a safe, respectful, and accountable environment. We have taken appropriate action under university policy and the law to hold individuals or organizations accountable, including during the encampment, and we do not tolerate behavior that threatens our community or undermines meaningful dialogue.”

Teddy Schneiderman, a rising junior at GW who is president of the campus chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, told JI that if the university makes changes in light of the government crackdown, he would like to see it provide a campus police presence at Jewish events and institutions, such as Shabbat dinners. 

“This would offer visible reassurance and protection at a time when safety is a significant concern for the Jewish community, especially following the tragic murder of two Israeli Embassy staff earlier this year in Washington, D.C. Taking such action would send a clear message that GW is committed to safeguarding all students, including the Jewish community and allow us to continue to safely demonstrate our Jewish pride,” said Schneiderman. 

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), which oversees Chabad’s national and local activities, including on GW’s campus, told JI that during the encampment, he would have agreed with the government’s allegation of GW’s indifference. “I’ll never forget what I saw with my own eyes for weeks,” Shemtov said. “But I do believe things have slightly improved, given President Granberg’s increased focus on the problem.” 

“If the university wants to resolve this without prosecution, they are being given a very generous chance by the DOJ to do so,” said Shemtov. 

“We expect that the steps taken to resolve this matter will result in a GW that is safe and welcoming for Jewish students and faculty, and where teaching and research can thrive,” Abbey Frank, interim executive director of GW Hillel, said in a statement. 

The DOJ wrote that it seeks “immediate remediation” with the university, giving campus administration until Aug. 22 to indicate whether it would like to engage in dialogue. Similar investigations earlier this year at schools including Harvard and Columbia resulted in the Trump administration pulling millions of dollars in federal funding. It restored Columbia’s funding in July, following months of negotiations and a $200 million settlement. 

For a brief moment, it looked like 2024 all over again: Tents were erected at Yale University’s central plaza on Tuesday night, with anti-Israel activists hoping to loudly protest the visit of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to campus. Videos of students in keffiyehs, shouting protest slogans, started to spread online on Tuesday night.

But then something unexpected happened. University administrators showed up, threatening disciplinary action, and the protesters were told to leave — or face consequences. So they left. The new encampment didn’t last a couple hours, let alone overnight. The next day, Yale announced that it had revoked its recognition of Yalies4Palestine, the student group that organized the protest. (On Wednesday night, a large protest occurred outside the off-campus building where Ben-Gvir was speaking.)

Meanwhile, at Cornell University, President Michael Kotlikoff announced on Wednesday that he had canceled an upcoming campus performance by R&B singer Kehlani because of her history of anti-Israel social media posts. He wrote in an email to Cornell affiliates that he had heard from many people who were “angry, hurt and confused” that the school’s annual spring music festival “would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos and on social media.” 

The quick decisions from administrators at Yale and Cornell to shut down anti-Israel activity reflect something of a vibe shift on American campuses. One year ago, anti-Israel encampments were, for a few weeks, de rigueur on campus quads across the nation. University leaders seemed paralyzed, unsure of how to handle protests that in many cases explicitly excluded Jewish or Zionist students and at times became violent. That’s a markedly different environment from what’s happening at those same schools so far this spring. 

“In general, protest activity is way down this year as compared to last year,” Hillel International CEO Adam Lehman told Jewish Insider. 

There is no single reason that protests have subsided. Jewish students, campus Jewish leaders and professionals at Jewish advocacy organizations attribute the change to a mix of factors: stricter consequences from university leaders, fear of running afoul of President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport pro-Hamas foreign students and the issue generally losing steam and cachet among easily distracted students. 

Last spring, an encampment at The George Washington University was only dismantled after the university faced threats from Congress. Now, no such protest is taking place — which Daniel Schwartz, a Jewish history professor, said was likely due in part to the “sense that the university was going to be responding much more fiercely to anything resembling what happened last year.” 

“For the most part, the enforcement of rules, the understanding of what the rules are, what you can do, what you can’t do, requiring people to get permits for protests, has really calmed things down [from] the sort of violence that we saw last year,” said Jordan Acker, a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, who has faced antisemitic vandalism and targeted, personal protests from Michigan students.

Michael Simon, the executive director at Northwestern Hillel, came into the school year with a “big question mark” of how the school’s new policies, which provide strict guidance for student protests and the type of behavior allowed at them, would be applied. “I’m going to say it with a real hedging: at least up until now, I would say we’ve seen the lower end of what I would have expected,” he said of campus anti-Israel protests.

Many major universities like Northwestern spent last summer honing their campus codes of conduct and their regulations for student protests, making clear at the start of the school year that similar actions would not be tolerated again. In February, for instance, Barnard College expelled two students who loudly disrupted an Israeli history class at Columbia,. 

“For the most part, the enforcement of rules, the understanding of what the rules are, what you can do, what you can’t do, requiring people to get permits for protests, has really calmed things down [from] the sort of violence that we saw last year,” said Jordan Acker, a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, who has faced antisemitic vandalism and targeted, personal protests from Michigan students.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has pressured top universities to crack down on antisemitic activity. The president’s threats to revoke federal funding if universities don’t get antisemitism under control has drawn pushback — Harvard is suing the Trump administration over its decision to withhold $2.2 billion in federal funds from the school — but it has also led universities to take action to address the problem. 

Sharon Nazarian, an adjunct professor at UCLA and the vice chair of the Anti-Defamation League’s board of directors, said there is “no question” that “the national atmosphere of fear among university administrators for castigation and targeting by the [Trump] administration is also present” at UCLA and other University of California campuses.

“My sense is that being anti-Israel is not as much of the popular thing anymore,” Evan Cohen, a senior at the University of Michigan, said at a Wednesday webinar hosted by Hillel International for Jewish high school seniors. “On my campus, there are other hot topic issues. There might be more focus on what’s happening with U.S. domestic politics.” 

Rule-breaking student activists also face a heightened risk of law enforcement action. A dozen anti-Israel student protesters were charged with felonies this month for vandalizing the Stanford University president’s office last June. On Wednesday, local, state and federal law enforcement officials in Michigan raided the homes of three people connected to anti-Israel protests at the University of Michigan. Protesters’ extreme tactics  have scared off some would-be allies.

“I think some of the most activist students went too far at the end of last year with the takeover of the president’s office and a lot of pretty intense graffiti in important places on campus,” said Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, the executive director of Hillel at Stanford. “I think a lot of other students looked at that and said, ‘Oh, this is perhaps not where we want to be.’”

Students’ priorities shift each year, and other issues beyond Israel are also vying for their attention. Trump’s policies targeting foreign students are drawing ire from students at liberal universities, many of which have large populations of international students.

“My sense is that being anti-Israel is not as much of the popular thing anymore,” Evan Cohen, a senior at the University of Michigan, said at a Wednesday webinar hosted by Hillel International for Jewish high school seniors. “On my campus, there are other hot topic issues. There might be more focus on what’s happening with U.S. domestic politics.” 

But the lack of protests does not mean that campus life has returned to normal for Jewish students, many of whom still fear — and face — opprobrium for their pro-Israel views.

“It’s easy to avoid the protests but if you are an Israeli student or a Jewish student perceived to be a Zionist, you should expect to be discriminated against in social spaces at the university,” Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, executive director of Harvard Hillel, told JI. “That is the most powerful way students are impacted by all of this.”

Ken Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which since Oct. 7 has represented dozens of Jewish students in Title VI civil rights cases against their universities, said that campus-related lawsuits are only faintly slowing down this semester. 

“A lot of the staff and the administration think that, ‘OK, since there’s no protest outside, all the Jewish students must feel OK, and let’s put all this stuff that happened in the spring behind us.’ It’s really not the case,” said Or Yahalom, a senior at Northwestern University who was born in Israel. “That doesn’t mean that it’s all better for students. Jewish students are increasingly afraid to speak openly about their identity or connection to Israel, except in private, safe Jewish spaces.”

“Some campuses have been less intense than during last year’s historically awful period, but others have been bad enough,” Marcus told JI. “I believe that the federal crackdown, coupled with the impact of lawsuits and Title VI cases, has had a favorable impact at many campuses, but the problems have hardly gone away.”

Or Yahalom, a senior at Northwestern University who was born in Israel, recently attended a dinner with Northwestern President Michael Schill, who has faced criticism from Jewish Northwestern affiliates — including several members of its antisemitism advisory committee — for what they saw as the administration’s failure to adequately address antisemitism. 

“A lot of the staff and the administration think that, ‘OK, since there’s no protest outside, all the Jewish students must feel OK, and let’s put all this stuff that happened in the spring behind us.’ It’s really not the case,” said Yahalom. “That doesn’t mean that it’s all better for students. Jewish students are increasingly afraid to speak openly about their identity or connection to Israel, except in private, safe Jewish spaces.” 

Even without massive encampments, disruptive anti-Israel protests and campus actions have not gone away entirely, though they have been more infrequent this academic year. A Northwestern academic building housing the school’s Holocaust center was vandalized with “DEATH TO ISRAEL” graffiti last week. The office of Joseph Pelzman, an economist at The George Washington University who authored a plan calling for the U.S. to relocate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and redevelop the enclave, was vandalized in February. The Georgetown University Student Government Association is slated to hold a campus-wide referendum on university divestment from companies and academic institutions with ties to Israel at the end of the month. Smaller-scale protests continue at Columbia, with students chaining themselves to the Manhattan university’s main gate this week to protest the ICE detention of ​​Mohsen Mahdawi and Mahmoud Khalil, two foreign students who had led protests last year. 

Leaders of the University of Michigan’s anti-Israel coalition held a sham trial for the university president and Board of Regents members in the middle of the Diag, the main campus quad, this week. The event took place without issue, and the activists left when it ended. 

“I wouldn’t want to say that it’s perfect,” said Acker, the Board of Regents member. “But it’s certainly much better than a year ago.” 

The school year isn’t over. Some students at Columbia are planning to erect another encampment this month, NBC News reported on Wednesday. 

But they’ll be doing so at an institution with new leadership, weeks after Columbia reached an agreement with the Trump administration, where the Ivy League university pledged to take stronger action against antisemitism to avoid a massive funding cut. The pressure on Columbia to crack down on any encampment will be massive.

George Washington University economics professor Joseph Pelzman arrived at his office Tuesday morning to find that anti-Israel activists had defaced the door overnight. 

The academic papers that were usually hung there were torn down and replaced by dozens of copies of a threatening sign, which called him an “architect of genocide,” and read, “Every sector of this community will be mobilized against you.” The document, titled “Notice of Eviction,” went on to call the professor a “pernicious symptom of the bloodthirsty Zionism permeating this campus” and stated that the group would “upend” the university if Pelzman is not removed from the university’s premises.

Pelzman, who heads the university’s Center of Excellence for the Economic Study of the Middle East and North Africa, authored a plan to relocate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and redevelop the enclave and submitted it to President Donald Trump’s team in July 2024, part of a 49-page paper he wrote called “An Economic Plan for Rebuilding Gaza,” he told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. The sign on his door referenced Pezlman’s “active role in incepting the genocide and planned ethnic cleansing of Gaza” and his “disgusting plan for the complete destruction and foreign occupation of Gaza.”

Pelzman said he’d be “happy to consult” if Trump’s team does call. “I put it in the mailbox, I have no idea whether he got it,” the professor quipped. 

The professor first publicly shared details of the historic plan in August on the podcast “America, Baby!” He painted an idyllic picture of Gaza, which would include “an above ground monorail system with sidewalks and green spaces,” focused on three main economic sectors: agriculture, tourism and technology.

“We sent a copy of the paper to Trump’s people and to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. I’m not a political person, I’m an economist,” Pelzman told JI. “But we thought, nobody has a plan, we’re academics, we have a plan. It doesn’t deal with genocide.” Pelzman noted that he has not heard back from the Trump administration regarding the plan, which appears to have overlap with the president’s proposal earlier this month to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza. 

The plan involves “starting from scratch,” Pelzman continued, which would mean entirely emptying out Gaza. “You can’t build there right now. Hamas has booby-trapped everything,” he continued. His paper presents a vision of public-private partnerships previously implemented in developing countries which would cost between $1-2 trillion and could take up to 15 years. 

“I don’t know what about the plan worries [the demonstrators]. Other than that they didn’t read it,” said Pelzman, whose office has a mezuzah hanging on the door, which the perpetrators left untouched. 

A spokesperson for GW told JI, “The university condemns and takes very seriously any acts that deface university property or threaten any members of our community. GW Facilities personnel have removed the flyers, and GWPD is leading an investigation into this incident and has been in contact directly with Professor Pelzman. Should the individual perpetrators of this act be identified, we will take all appropriate steps in accordance with all applicable local laws and university policies.”

The university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which celebrated the incident on Instagram, remains on disciplinary probation through May for its involvement in last year’s illegal anti-Israel encampments. 

The George Washington University started the 2024-25 academic year suspending the groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, the university confirmed to Jewish Insider. 

The suspension, which was first announced in a joint Instagram post by the two groups on Monday — and has not yet been publicized by the university — is slated to run through the end of the fall semester. The groups said that university officials have told them they would remain on “disciplinary probation” through the remainder of the school year.

Under the suspension, SJP and JVP will not be recognized as registered campus organizations, are prohibited from hosting on-campus events and lose all university funding. Under probation, the groups will be required to obtain approval before hosting campus events and cannot use money from the university fund that is allocated to them.

A spokesperson for GW told JI that the school has “an obligation to address violations of university policy, and does so without regard to the content of the message those demonstrating seek to advance. It does so through a Code of Student Conduct that provides a fair review process that includes student peers.” 

The spokesperson declined to elaborate on how the groups violated university policy, but said that the school will “hold discussions with groups of students, faculty, alumni and parents about enhancing community engagement and conflict education on campus moving forward.” In a separate Instagram post on Tuesday, SJP wrote that “GW agrees to student conditions: negotiations resume.” 

“The university would not characterize [the discussions] as ‘negotiations,’” the spokesperson said, declining to elaborate on discussions that may take place with the groups. 

SJP and JVP at GW were temporarily suspended last fall after projecting anti-Israel messages — including “Divestment from Zionist genocide now” and “Free Palestine From the River to the Sea” — on the campus library weeks after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. The suspension lasted 90 days while further disciplinary action prohibited SJP from posting communications on university property through May 20. 

The groups’ demands include divestment from all companies with ties to Israel, ending all academic partnerships with the Jewish state and dropping all charges against anti-Israel student demonstrators. In the joint Instagram post on Monday, SJP and JVP suggested that they will continue organizing, despite the suspension. 

 “So long as this university funds the companies and weapons manufacturers murdering our loved ones… we will continue to resist,” the groups wrote. 

The George Washington University held a major fundraiser in New York City last Thursday that “went absolutely off the rails,” according to an attendee, when the school’s president, Ellen Granberg, was confronted by several participants who accused the administration of not doing enough to counter rising antisemitism on campus.

During a question-and-answer session of the reception, held at the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan, the mood grew tense as Granberg faced a procession of frustrated participants who raised concerns over antisemitic incidents that have increased amid the Israel-Hamas war, according to the attendee, who spoke with Jewish Insider on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

At one point, a frustrated woman in the audience loudly interrupted Granberg as she was addressing a high-profile incident last month in which student demonstrators projected anti-Israel slogans onto a George Washington University library endowed by a Jewish family.

“You’re not really answering this question,” the woman interjected, according to a video recording of the exchange that was shared with JI. “How is it that GW has created a climate where students feel it is celebratory to celebrate actual terrorism against innocent people?” she said, drawing applause from the crowd.

Seeking to quell the outburst, Granberg, who became president in July, said firmly that she was doing her best to answer the question but was cut off again by the same woman. “Ma’am, you need to let me answer this question,” Granberg reiterated.

“What we see is this is happening at universities across the country,” Granberg continued, free of interruption. “This is not just a GW issue. It is our responsibility, it is my responsibility, to deal with what’s happening at GW, but this is a national problem.”

Dissatisfied with Granberg’s response, the woman eventually stood up and “stormed out of the room” in protest, the attendee said.

The heated moment underscores the raw emotions many Jews feel amid a proliferation of anti-Israel activism on campuses across the country, where student protestors have celebrated or downplayed Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and used rhetoric that supporters of Israel view as antisemitic.

It also highlights the ongoing frustrations of top donors who have accused officials at several elite universities of failing to forcefully reject criticism of Israel and crack down on anti-Jewish prejudice.

For her part, Granberg has condemned “the celebration of terrorism and attempts to perpetuate rhetoric or imagery that glorifies acts of violence,” as she wrote in a statement released four days after the attack.

Last week, the administration announced that it was suspending Students for Justice in Palestine, which was accused of coordinating the library projection, for at least 90 days, while restricting the group from posting communications on university property through May 20, the end of the school year. 

A student who allegedly tore down posters of hostages held by Hamas displayed inside the school’s Hillel building was also suspended from campus, the university announced earlier this month.

At the donor event last week, which was attended by about 200 people, Granberg shared updates on the university’s efforts to combat antisemitism, noting that the administration has been working with local and federal police to bolster campus security measures, according to the attendee, who also shared notes taken during the meeting.

The university president, however, acknowledged that such work “needs to go deeper,” emphasizing a commitment to expanding “support for religious and fraternal community groups,” training staff and reconciling what she characterized as a “right to free speech with our community values,” according to the notes.

Despite her assurances, a number of parents in attendance still expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s approach. “It is now life or death,” one parent said during the question-and-answer period.

Another parent, meanwhile, raised an objection to paying high tuition rates for her daughter to take classes in the Middle East studies department, accusing its professors of espousing anti-Israel sentiment. The parent asked why the university hadn’t pushed for more diversity of thought in its program.

As the questions on antisemitism continued, the event handlers eventually tried to intercede in an effort to let participants address other subjects, prompting objections from participants who opposed the pivot, the attendee recalled.

Ultimately, Granberg allowed a “previously arranged annual event” to be converted “into a forum that was 90% about antisemitism and the safety of Jewish students on campus,” the attendee told JI. “It was almost like an emergency moment.”

The university did not return a request for comment on Monday.

“I appreciate all of the questions and perspectives that I heard tonight,” Granberg stressed in her remarks at the donor gathering last week. “What I believe in and what I always believe in is the power of universities as convening places where difficult issues get discussed in the open. That’s what I want to see GW do, and that’s what we’re going to be moving toward.”