George Washington University Archives - The Florida Capital Star

Mean Speech Not Protected at Public Universities, Appeals Courts Rule

July 1, 2024 Just the News

Faculty at public universities in nine states may have fewer speech protections than they assume following federal appeals court rulings against professors on the political right and left who were punished for perceived lack of collegiality – strong words short of harassment.

But a private university has egg on its face after taking seven months to allegedly clear a professor of wrongdoing for telling anti-Israel campus protesters they are “ignorant” and “Hamas are murderers,” despite having immediate access to both viral video and its own surveillance.

Two-Thirds of University Protesters Arrested Weren’t Even Students, Police Say

May 9, 2024 Admin

The majority of people arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University (GWU) were not students, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said on Thursday.

Report: CBS News Seized Files, Computers and Records of Fired Journalist Catherine Herridge

February 23, 2024 Florida Capital Star Staff

CBS News has reportedly “seized the files, computers and records” of fired investigative reporter Catherine Herridge, including information on privileged sources.

“The network grabbed Herridge’s notes and files and informed her that it would decide what, if anything, would be turned over to her,” George Washington University law Professor Jonathan Turley reported at the Hill on Thursday. “The files likely contain confidential material from both her stints at Fox and CBS.”

Federal Judge Won’t Hire Clerks Who Signed Letters Defending Hamas

October 17, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

A federal judge recently announced he would not hire law clerks who signed letters defending the actions of Hamas.

In response to a letter released by student groups at Harvard blaming Israel for Hamas’ attacks, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Matthew Solomson (pictured above) wrote in an October 11 LinkedIn post that he would “refuse to credential anyone who supports or even remotely sympathizes with terror in the form of a modern day pogrom.” Student groups at universities across the country, including Columbia University, Yale University and George Washington University, released statements and held protests in support of Palestine.

Colleges Move to Arm Officers in Response to Inner-City Crime After Previous Calls to Defund the Police

May 29, 2023 Admin

Two inner-city colleges are arming their on-campus police officers in an effort to crack down on increased crime three years after activists called for departments across the country to be defunded.

George Washington University (GWU), located in Washington D.C., announced it will allow some officers to carry firearms while on duty after typically relying on other armed police departments, while Portland State University (PSU), located in, reversed a 2021 policy that restricted officer’s ability to arm themselves. The decisions come three years after activists across the country took to the streets in 2020 demanding policing reform, including calls to defund departments, which sources tell the Daily Caller News Foundation will better prepare officers to deal with emergency situations when they occur.

Blackout on Biden Corruption Allegations ‘Markings of a State Media,’ Top Law Professor Says

May 15, 2023 Just the News

The establishment media blackout on corruption within the Biden family is the sign of a state-run media even as stories on the issue could easily win journalism awards, George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley says.

Congressional Republicans unveiled evidence last week that nine members of the first family were allegedly receiving funds from figures in multiple foreign countries, but “the media is insisting that this is no scandal because there is not directly proof of payments to Joe Biden,” Turley wrote in an opinion article Friday for The Hill.

Students Launch Bipartisan Protest Against University’s China Investments

February 21, 2022February 20, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

George Washington University (GWU) students held a bipartisan protest Tuesday, urging the Washington D.C. institution to divest its endowment from companies that are complicit in China’s human rights abuses.

The demonstration, which involved both of the university’s College Republicans and College Democrats chapters, comes one week after university President Mark S. Wrighton rescinded his criticism of on-campus artwork that critiqued China’s abuses against its Uyghur population.

“We’ve all banded together,” activist and GWU alum Juan Carlos Mora told Campus Reform during the protest.

George Washington University Admits That It Tracked Student, Employee Locations on Campus Without Their Consent

February 16, 2022February 15, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

The George Washington University’s president publicly apologized Friday for a fall 2021 surveillance pilot program that tracked students’ and employees’ locations on campus without their consent.

“I write to inform you of a data analytics pilot program that took place on the university campus during the Fall 2021 semester, and to apologize on behalf of the university for the failure to inform you in advance of commencing this project,” Mark S. Wrighton wrote.

Commentary: Pro-Government Zealots Remove Statues on Campus – Just Like China in Hong Kong

January 17, 2022 Admin

When students, faculty, and university administrations pull down statues on campus in an effort to censor history, they are engaging in the same authoritarian politics that characterize China’s control over Hong Kong.

Within 48 hours, Hong Kong University (HKU), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and Lingan University witnessed the removal of artwork commemorating the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square.

At HKU, “the Pillar of Shame” was an apt name for the monument that memorialized the atrocity as an example of Chinese government oppression that the communist regime is now trying to whitewash.

Commentary: The Insufferable Piety of the Progressive Elites

October 12, 2021October 11, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Freedom in Australia is now at the mercy of a state and its police apparatus bent on controlling people’s every movement.

But despite the extensive footage of protests gone violent, neither American liberal media nor domestic social justice movements are raising alarms about police brutality in that country.

George Washington University’s Francis Scott Key Hall May Face Name Change

July 19, 2021July 18, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

University Yard, George Washington University

Among a list of building names George Washington University has collected for study and review is Francis Scott Key Hall.

Key is the author of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

But the private, Washington D.C.-based university has received a request to rename Francis Scott Key Hall and it will consider whether to scrap the moniker at some point in the future, according to its Name Change Request Registry.

University officials did not respond to repeated requests from The College Fix over the last week asking about the nature of the complaint or complaints against Francis Scott Key Hall and whether students or faculty asked for it to be reviewed.