Exclusive: George Mason University accused of censorship by citing IHRA definition to order anti-Israel post’s removal
Pro-Palestinian students are threatening to sue George Mason University in Virginia after the school cited a contentious definition of antisemitism it recently adopted to demand the removal of a social media post in which they described Israel as a “genocidal Zionist state” and the US as “the belly of the beast”.
In a letter sent to the public university’s administrators on Wednesday, and shared exclusively with the Guardian, the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter argued that the video amounted to “political expression on a matter of public concern, and thus the very speech the first amendment is meant to protect”.
“As a public university, the law is crystal clear that GMU may not censor its students or student organizations on the basis of viewpoint,” the letter added, demanding the university allow SJP to repost the video by Friday. “GMU cannot utilize the veneer of anti-discrimination in order to censor student speech that may be disfavored by the administration.”
A spokesperson for GMU told the Guardian in a statement that the video had raised “fears and alarm among members of the university community” and confirmed it was taken down “at the university’s insistence”.
