The GW
HATCHET
January 27, 2025 Vol. 121 Iss. 17
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
GW, Office for Civil Rights resolve yearslong investigations of antisemitism, anti-Palestinian discrimination BROOKE FORGETTE CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
GW reached a resolution agreement last week with the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, concluding yearslong investigations into a pair of Title VI complaints alleging anti-Palestinian discrimination and antisemitism at the University, a pro-Palestinian legal group said Thursday. Palestine Legal said in a release that the Office for Civil Rights on Jan. 17 found a pro-Israel advocacy group’s January 2023 complaint alleging antisemitism in a psychology course “unsubstantial.” The office also reportedly ruled that the University “may have treated [a proPalestine student] differently on the basis of shared ancestry” in response to a complaint filed by Palestine Legal in February 2023 that claimed years of anti-Palestinian discrimination against students, according to the release. The Office for Civil Rights had been investigating the complaints since April and May 2023, respectively. Both investigations against GW are still listed as active on the department’s website, and the agreement isn’t available on the office’s resolution database. University spokesperson Julia Metjian said the University entered a voluntary resolution agreement with the Office for Civil Rights on Jan. 16 and that the office’s investigations concluded without finding that GW had violated
Top MFA trustee serves on board of independent contractor HANNAH MARR NEWS EDITOR
JORDAN TOVIN | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Fog fills University Yard on an early December morning.
Title VI law. Metjian said as part of the agreement, the University committed to evaluating policies to ensure they articulate standards and procedures regarding demonstrations and discrimination. Metjian also said the University will implement additional training for faculty, staff and students on discrimination and conduct a survey to measure the perceived level of discrimination and harassment based on national origin at the University as part of the agreement. She said GW also agreed to correct the records regarding actions taken involv-
ing “several” students. The Office for Civil Rights did not return a request for comment. Palestine Legal alleged that GW opted to enter into a resolution agreement with the Office for Civil Rights instead of completing the investigation, which could have resulted in GW losing federal funding. Palestine Legal did not return a request for comment. As part of the resolution, GW must ensure all of its policies and procedures define what constitutes discrimination under Title VI, the release claims. The University must
also revise policies and procedures for protests and other forms of expression to provide “safeguards for non-discriminatory application” and enforcement without regard to the race or national origin or cause, according to Palestine Legal. The group claimed that the Office for Civil Rights asked officials to conduct and share a “climate survey” that will “define national origin as including shared Palestinian, Arab, South Asian, and/or Muslim, and Jewish or Israeli ancestry and/or the association with these national origins.”
The agreement also allegedly requires GW to provide nondiscrimination training for students and employees and additional training for Conflict Education & Student Accountability staff to ensure charges are consistent with Title VI. The release states that GW also declined to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s working definition of antisemitism, which has been disputed due to concerns the framework could be used to improperly prohibit rhetoric critical of the state of Israel.
Medical Faculty Associates Board of Trustees Chair Ellen Zane also sits on the Board of Directors of the MFA’s top independent contractor, according to a press release and several online profiles. Zane, who leads the MFA’s highest governing body as its chair, has also served since 2018 on the board of Savista, the MFA’s independent contractor for revenue management. University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said Zane disclosed her relationship with Savista as part of the annual Trustee Conflict of Interest process and is recused from all conversations relating to Savista’s financial management services for the MFA as a result. Savista is responsible for managing revenue cycle functions for the MFA — a network of health care providers and faculty affiliated with GW’s medical school and hospital. Savista’s roles include coding for insurance claims, billing, helping patients understand payment options and collecting the organization’s unpaid balances, per a 2020 press release announcing the two organizations’ partnership. Zane was recused from the MFA board’s deliberation and vote in December 2019 on whether to enter into a relationship with Savista, formerly known as nThrive until 2021, McClendon said. She declined to specify when Zane disclosed the dual relationships or which officials she alerted. See ZANE Page 5
Men’s basketball snaps threegame skid, defeats Saint Louis
Students heartened by Gaza ceasefire remain on edge for region’s future
JACK BYRNE
BROOKE FORGETTE
REPORTER
RYAN JAINCHILL BASKETBALL EDITOR
Men’s basketball (14-6, 3-4) defeated Saint Louis (12-8, 5-2) 67-61 to snap a three-game losing streak on Saturday. After dropping three straight Atlantic-10 games, the Revolutionaries rode a strong first half and thwarted the Billikens’ comeback attempt at the tail end of the game at the Smith Center. Leading the way offensively for the Revs was redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro, who recorded 21 points on nine of 11 from the field and added nine rebounds, averaging 19.8 points per game over his last 5. Redshirt freshman guard Christian Jones continues to solidify himself as the first-option guard, stuffing the stat sheet with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Revs got off to a powerful start in the first half, dominating the inside with Castro leading the way early off assists from Jones. The former Providence Friar had eight of the Revs’ first 10 points, using his size and leverage to come down with rebounds and put the ball back up. At halftime, GW was winning the rebound battle (22-19), the assist battle (9-2) and the turnover battle (5-2). All five starters had a +/- higher than 10 at the break. The Revs picked up the second half right where they left
off, with graduate student guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr. throwing down a dunk to open the secondframe scoring. The Billikens managed to slim the lead down to as little as three points on the backs of senior guard Kobe Johnson and some timely makes from junior center Robbie Avila. A missed threepoint attempt in the final minute by Swope resulted in free throws by Castro, which iced the game for the Revs. Head Coach Chris Caputo said postgame that his team’s defensive structure limited Avila, who was Saint Louis’ highly touted transfer after spending last season at Indiana State. “I would just say it’s sort of similar to what we’ve done, people trying to give them different books throughout the game, not the same steady diet,” Caputo said. “We are a switching team, a traffic team and a pressing team. We’re not like a ‘do what we do defense,’ but we are, in some ways, in terms of the base. And you can build out that, build out some schemes from the base.” Caputo said this victory is a step toward the team’s end-ofseason goal of finishing at the top of the A-10. “We’re amongst the best teams in the league,” Caputo said. I believe that.” The Revs finish out their home stand when they host the University of Richmond Spiders on Wednesday, with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
RACHEL KURLANDSKY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Sophomore guard Jacoi Hutchinson drives the ball down court during Saturday’s game.
CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR
JENNIFER IGBONOBA NEWS EDITOR
Community members hope the ceasefire established between Israel and Hamas last week will bring long-awaited peace to a region battered from more than a year of war, but some question the agreement’s longevity. Former President Joe Biden announced Jan. 15 that the two parties had entered a three-phase ceasefire deal with plans to release the remaining Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. The prospect of an end in violence toward civilians was celebrated by student leaders, faculty and staff, but doubts remain about the ceasefire’s sustainability due to remaining tensions in a region fractured by decades of hostilities. After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostages, the Israeli government declared war on the group. More than 46,600 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military’s counteroffensive since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities. A representative from Students for Justice in Palestine at GWU, who requested anonymity due to fears of doxxing and retaliation, said he was relieved but apprehensive when he first heard of the ceasefire due to failed attempts to halt the violence earlier on in the war. But he recalled feeling a “deep sense of victory” as he watched videos of Palestinian children celebrating the news in the streets of Gaza and families returning to their homes. “This is a victory for our people, that they were able to defeat the most powerful empire in history, to not be broken by this genocide and to emerge victorious,” the representative said. The first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is set to last for six weeks, requires Israeli troops to withdraw from populated areas in Gaza and the release of 33 Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity in exchange for about 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, CNN reported earlier this
KAIDEN J. YU | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Demonstrators in Freedom Plaza call for a ceasefire in Gaza in January 2024.
TANNER NALLEY | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Demonstrators drape Israeli flags over their shoulders in October 2023.
month. Biden said the second phase, which will last another six weeks, prolongs the ceasefire and requires the release of male soldiers held by Hamas and the withdrawal of remaining Israeli forces from Gaza. Authorities will return the remains of deceased hostages to their families in the third phase and efforts to reconstruct Gaza will begin, Biden said. Now that the ceasefire deal has been brokered, the SJP representative said there is a collective duty to help Palestinians in Gaza rebuild their homes. About twothirds of Gaza’s total infrastructure has been damaged in varying degrees, and Israel’s repeated attacks on and near hospitals
has placed the area at a “point of almost complete collapse,” according to multiple U.N. reports released last summer. The representative said SJP is fundraising to aid the rebuilding effort and will remain “vigilant” in fighting against imperialism in Gaza, pointing to concerns that President Donald Trump might turn the territory into a “beautiful beachfront property” — sentiments the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, expressed in February. Trump on Saturday suggested the idea of moving Palestinian refugees to neighboring countries to “clean out” the territory. See DREAM Page 5