We all have things to say. We have the right to say it. Universities across the country, including GW, are punishing students for calling attention to others’ suffering around the world. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been murdered at the hands of the Israeli military and Zionist settlers since the onset of the latest conflict, and apparently nobody’s allowed to say anything about it.
During this year’s Columbian College of Arts & Sciences graduation ceremony, student speaker Cecilia Culver used her allotted time to call attention to the genocide in Gaza and the ongoing student campaign calling on University officials to divest University funds from Israel, defense contractors and weapons manufacturers. Much to the chagrin of University officials, who have long opposed any material divestment and vocal pro-Palestinian demonstration, the speech became a flashpoint in discussions across campus and online. Culver’s selfless act — knowingly risking her years of study and work to recognize, condemn and call for action — is inspiring.
Culver represents the values that comprise the finest students and humans — integrity, composure and empathy. We are only obligated to live as we see fit, and to be steadfast in using our voices empathetically, speaking for those who can’t, is quite honorable. Modern capitalist society encourages indifference towards others’ suffering as a foundational economic concept, emphasizing an apparent need to step on others to guarantee your own success. When we see someone like Culver take a step against that current, we as a community should be learning from it, not rushing to condemn it.
Shortly after the speech, GW released a statement condemning Culver’s actions and announcing her subsequent ban from University campus and events. Culver ostensibly understood the risks involved in using her time this way, given the other notable cases of graduates being punished by their universities for doing the same. As Culver said in her speech, “the horrors unfolding halfway across the world may be easy to ignore for those lacking a moral backbone.” It is precisely this combination of disciplinary actions and the cruel inhumanity of American imperialism that demands courageous opposition.
The administration and guests attending graduation may have taken issue with a speaker dedicating five minutes to opinions they don’t agree with, but this is no reason to forbid this practice in the first place, or void a hardworking student’s years of academic progress and tuition paid to the University. We have constitutional rights and attend a school in a city that should be at the heart of democracy and debate — it’s a bit strange that those values seemingly mean nothing to those in power. The contributions that Culver, or any other similarly opinionated student for that matter, has made to the community are substantive and should not be suppressed simply because “views of the University” do not align with those of the student.
As students, who are we if not outspoken? Where is this multitude of new perspectives meant to go, if not back out into the world? If we, as young adults, are to be faced with the inability to share our experiences, after being so “wondrously enlightened” by academic institutions, then what good is living, learning and growing anyway?
GW, why surrender what makes college life in D.C. so valuable for so many students? Diverse points of view, encouraging discussions and fostering an environment welcoming to activism — all bygone concepts at today’s GW.
Those of us in agreement with Culver’s speech are not inciting an outrage, we are simply making known our humanity and, crucially, the humanity of Palestinians. We were sold ideals and values, perhaps an image of America and GW students — strident, outspoken and righteous. To see a sliver of that in Culver’s speech is reassuring at the very least, to know that there are still some out there willing to speak truth to power.
If GW, D.C., the U.S. or the world are to maintain their supposed values of innovation, expression and development, while creating an academic environment hostile to expression and activism, we as a society have taken many missteps. The more this world seeks to shelve emotion for productivity and subservience, the more we lose the ability to genuinely interact with each other instead of just react. We are emotional creatures — to think otherwise is to deny one the beauty of knowing oneself. Culver, like many others, was driven to action by this emotion.
In a matter of years GW, alongside federal interests across the District, such as the Department of Education under President Donald Trump and massive Zionist-Israeli lobbying initiatives have completely deconstructed and sold, piece by piece, the academic, social and ethical reputation of the University by voluntarily capitulating to demands seeking to limit institutional autonomy. GW, which was once a thriving hub for nuanced political thought and debate, a training ground for prize-winning writers and a relentlessly innovative engineering program, has been tainted by its commitment to funding war and is now nothing but gutted shells, crutched by blood money and federal funds with political strings attached.
The administration has peddled a narrative that in exchange for the mere survival of our institution, investment in weapons and close cooperation with increasingly authoritarian government oversight is not just necessary, but normal. By bowing to topics unfavored by the government and its allies, Culver’s silencing and suspension represent a first step in this new process.
I believe that every academic, student, observer, reporter or otherwise opinionated person must look at this as it was meant to be seen — a message, a cry for help that any empathetic individual shouldn’t be able to ignore. Death and destruction in numbers and scale unforeseen in our lifetimes, entire Palestinian bloodlines being ended by the Israeli military. There will come a day when those responsible, aiding and abetting — bystanders, GW administration, our government and Zionist warmongers — will claim situational innocence in the face of this. Now, we can only lift up the ones who further risk themselves to even raise awareness. We, as Americans, residents of a country financing this atrocity, are uniquely obligated to say something on this matter, and in the face of suffering, silence has never been the answer.
GW must do many things if it is to regain the trust and stewardship of its students. Divestment is no longer enough — it simply represents the foundation upon which this University must be rebuilt. The billions of dollars languishing in endowment, the unbelievable land-ownership in D.C. and the thirty thousand students who call this school home must be mobilized to oppose suffering and genocide in every possible way. We must not rely solely on statements and political positions, but commit ourselves as an organization to stand between the violence and the weapon. GW has a voice; let its students use theirs to continue echoing the cries of those who have been lost under bombs and bullets.
Officials cannot claim or advertise GW as a “politically active” and “research-minded” product if this is how it intends to conduct itself. Betraying constitutional rights for shadowy political points will someday be looked back on as one of the greatest failings of the crumbling American educational system. So don’t shoot the messenger. Culver is not the movement or the riot that scares the higher-ups; she is a voice, a person speaking — much better than most of us.
Noah Edelman, a rising senior majoring in journalism, is an opinions writer.
