The GOP chairs of House Education and the Workforce and Oversight committees are demanding answers from Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and the district’s police department over reports that they “refused” to clear pro-Palestinian encampments at George Washington University.
The encampments stem from the war between Israel and Hamas and have appeared across several college campuses across the nation, leading to several House Democrats and Republicans condemning university presidents and pro-Palestinian protesters as antisemitism rises. An encampment sprouted up at GWU on Thursday last week.
In a letter sent to Bowser and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) accused both the mayor and the police chief of refusing to assist in removing “radical, antisemitic, and unlawful protesters” from the campus and the district’s public land.
“It is deeply disturbing that while GWU has attempted to take concrete measures to protect the safety of its Jewish student body from persecution and harassment, it is hindered by the MPD’s refusal to provide assistance clearing out the encampment, over fears of public criticism,” Foxx and Comer wrote.
They added that it is “difficult” to see how the MPD is fulfilling its mission statement to “safeguard the District of Columbia” when the university said the protesters represent “an egregious violation of community trust and goes far beyond the boundaries of free expression and the right to protest.”
On Sunday night, after the university tried to relocate the Israel-Gaza war protesters, more than 200 protesters pushed down the barricades and reoccupied the University Yard. Numerous GWU protesters were also seen attempting to block media from covering their encampments.
The base of the statue of President George Washington, the university’s namesake, has been seen in protest photos as vandalized with spray paint with the words “Free Gaza.” Another statue at the center of the protests had a Palestinian flag draped on Washington, as well.
Washington police officers reportedly rejected pleas from the university to clear out demonstrators over worries about the “optics” of moving against a small number of peaceful protesters, according to the Washington Post. Officers had assembled around 3 a.m. on Friday and were prepared to enter the encampment, but senior leaders in Bowser’s and Smith’s office ordered them to stand down, two officials told the Washington Post.
“GWU has consistently attempted to act in good faith for the wellbeing of its student population but has faced obstruction from the MPD and the Office of the Mayor,” Foxx and Comer wrote.
“The inaction of the MPD and the District of Columbia is out of sync with police departments and local governments nationwide which have responded to similar requests for help from universities to clear out unlawful encampments in states such as Missouri, Massachusetts, and others,” they added.
Foxx and Comer are asking Bowser and Smith to provide answers no later than May 9 as to why they refused calls for assistance from GWU, what conditions must be met for MPD officers to intervene and clear out the encampment, and how the MPD’s refusal to clear out protesters aligns with the department’s mission statement.
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The letter from Foxx and Comer comes as the House prepares to vote on the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023, which was introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and would require the Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws on college campuses.
The House passed a procedural rule on the antisemitism bill on Tuesday, setting up the measure for a vote on Wednesday before the chamber recesses for the week.