GWU Latest School Hit With Antisemitism Suit Over Oct. 7 (2)

George Washington University allowed “pervasive and severe” antisemitic harassment to “fester"on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, a new lawsuit from current and former students alleges.

The suit, filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, claims the Washington, D.C. university “nurtured antisemitism on campus” through “a deeply entrenched pipeline of hate” that would fuel years of a hostile educational environment, through links to what the plaintiffs term the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement that seeks to disrupt the economic and financial stability of Israel.

The suit is the latest to target a large university over its reaction to the 2023 attacks on Israel, that country’s war on Hamas, and the many campus protests that have embroiled colleges across the US. In one of the most prominent, Harvard University last week settled a lawsuit by a former divinity student claiming Jewish students face antisemitism on campus, while the university is caught up in a closely-watched battle with the Trump administration.

The suit was also filed a day after two Israeli embassy employees were killed in the nation’s capital outside a Jewish museum. The suspect in the shooting has been charged with murder.

The university is reviewing the complaint and will respond to it through the legal process, GW officials said in a written statement.

“We take the concerns of the students who filed the lawsuit extremely seriously,” the officials said. “We condemn antisemitism in the strongest terms and have taken, and continue to take, robust action to support our Jewish and Israeli students and community.”

“Antisemitism has been a consistent part of the GWU student experience,” say the plaintiffs in the GWU suit, who are current and former GWU students and a voluntary membership group composed of students, alumni, and other university stakeholders.

That included one incident in the fall of 2022 in which Jewish students arrived at a Hillel Center to attend prayer services and were confronted by classmates taking their photos and screaming epithets, including “‘Kikes, go kill yourself’” and “‘there is only one solution, intifada revolution,’” the students allege in their 176-page complaint.

The suit also makes numerous additional allegations of hate-speech and actions that targeted Jews and Israelis on campus. It also names several public and international affairs professors it says have demonized Israel.

In response to at least one instance of the alleged hostile environment for Jews and Israelis at GWU, school administrators “chose to do nothing,” the students allege.

The complaint alleges violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the District of Columbia Human Rights Act, as well as a claim for breach of contract.

The lawsuit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions requiring GWU to adopt a definition of antisemitism as part of its nondiscrimination policies and codes of conduct, and that prohibit the university from funding any student organization that harasses or excludes Zionists or, more generally, Jews.

The lawsuit also seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief that would require GWU to enforce its policy on nondiscrimination, its student code of conduct, and other school policies “on an evenhanded basis.”

The plaintiffs also seek, among other things, an independent outside monitor to oversee and ensure full compliance with all injunctive and equitable relief ordered by the court. “The monitor shall be empowered to audit, report, and recommend corrective actions for such duration and scope as the Court deems just and necessary,” the complaint says.

Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC, Libby Hoopes Brooks & Mulvey PC, and the National Jewish Advocacy Center represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Soffer v. The George Wash. Univ., D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-01657, complaint 5/22/25.