On March 13, George Mason University (GMU) president Gregory Washington sent an email to the student body which pledged commitment to the Trump administration’s assault on students’ democratic rights as part of eliminating the fictional scourge of “antisemitism” on college campuses.

GMU is one of 60 college and university campuses across the country that were notified by the Trump-run Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) on March 10 of alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act regarding “antisemitic” activity on their campus. The reopening of investigations into “antisemitism” was in pursuance to the Trump administration’s January 29 executive order “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism.” 

“George Mason welcomes the opportunity to work with OCR,” stated Washington in the email. Washington’s email also explained that “[GMU’s] approach to addressing antisemitism is informed by guidance from OCR and other government recommendations in responding to complaints of harassment or discrimination.” 

Washington’s email marks the second time that GMU has pledged to work with the OCR. Washington’s recent email briefly mentions an incident from December 2023 when a complaint was filed with the OCR against GMU. That complaint claimed that there was “pervasive hostility” to Jewish students on campus and that GMU was sanctioning support for the massacre of Jewish people. 

At that time, GMU was one of several universities which had been targeted by far-right provocateur groups such as “Campus Watch,” who had taken out complaints with the Democratic Biden administration against the anti-Gaza genocide protests then sweeping the country. Biden, working hand-in-glove with the extreme right, honored these absurd complaints, opening investigations into the universities in question.

GMU responded by welcoming the investigation and Washington stated in his email that at the time he felt it was important to let the OCR know of “[GMU’s] efforts to combat harassment and discrimination.” Washington obediently listed the restrictions the university has imposed on the right to protest since the previous administration’s intervention against students.

In August 2024, the university adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which effectively equates any opposition to the genocide in Gaza and anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The same month, the university prohibited encampments, restricted the display of posters and implemented a sound ordinance. These rules were designed to effectively prohibit any open expression of opposition to the genocide in Gaza. 

In February, GMU’s Board of Visitors (BoV), a body appointed by Virginia’s governor, “reaffirmed by proclamation the university is cognizant and aware that terms such as ‘Zionist’ can be used as a proxy for ‘Jewish’ or ‘Israeli’ in perpetuating antisemitic conduct.” Likewise, the university declared that when dealing with what it termed “proxies for antisemitic conduct,” it would evaluate its decisions based on IHRA’s definition.

These are only a few of the steps the university has taken to suppress students’ rights to protest.

In a clear escalation of the crackdown on students, on November 7, 2024, Fairfax County and GMU police with the assistance of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted a no-knock raid of the home of two GMU students, Jena and Noor Chanaa, who belonged to the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). 

The raid was conducted in response to an incident on August 28, where several people spray-painted pro-Palestine messages on a sidewalk at the campus. There was no evidence that SJP members had even been involved in the incident and no charges or formal accusations were brought against the sisters. 

After the raid, Jena and Noor were then issued a criminal trespass notice and barred from campus for four years, effectively expelling the two. The justification for the trespass notice was that antique weapons, which belonged to the Chanaas’ brother, and anti-Zionist literature were found during the raid, constituting them as a “threat.” 

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at GMU has launched a campaign opposing the attack on the SJP and its members, demanding that the ban on the two sisters be lifted immediately so they may continue their studies and that the SJP be immediately reinstated with full student organization rights.

Since the raid, the Chanaas have faced financial hardship and had to create a GoFundMe in order to cover legal fees. Their GoFundMe page states the sisters’ “commitment to Palestinian liberation placed a target on their backs in the eyes of the George Mason University administration and Mason Police. As a result, they were isolated, targeted, and effectively expelled indefinitely without charge.”

A supporter of the GMU chapter of the IYSSE denounced the university’s attempt to “effectively… begin bankrupting the Chanaa family.”

“This is a criminal act of retaliation against students for protesting a genocide. George Mason, whose Virginia Declaration of Rights influenced the Fifth Amendment which says no one will be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process, is rolling over in his grave right now.”

GMU’s attacks on democratic rights is reinforced by its growing ties to the United States military and intelligence apparatus. The university’s disregard for students’ rights is likewise underscored by its financial ties to far right groups and benefactors.

In 2019, the World Socialist Web Site reported that the university named its law school after the recently-deceased fascist Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia following an anonymous donation of nearly $20 million in 2016. The Koch Foundation, an ultra-right political advocacy group, donated around $95 million to the school between 2005 and 2018.

Members of the Supreme Court’s far right fascist bloc have also recently held honorary posts and professorships at GMU, including Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

What is occurring at George Mason is among the most pronounced expressions of a far wider process occurring nationwide. University administrations across the country are dominated by upper-middle-class layers that have close ties to the Democratic Party and the corporate and financial elite. These layers, cultivated over decades, are far-removed from any democratic traditions. 

Other universities, such as Columbia, have also capitulated to the demands of the Trump administration. At Cornell University, the school and the Trump administration have hounded Momodou Taal, an international graduate student, to leave the country following his role in opposing the Gaza genocide and the government’s assault on freedom of speech.