Georgetown University faculty leaders denounced a March 17 report by Republican lawmakers on a U.S. House of Representatives committee accusing the university of fostering antisemitism.
In the report, the Committee on Education and the Workforce accuses Georgetown of spreading antisemitic rhetoric through its centers focused on Middle East studies and student groups at both the Hilltop Campus and Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q). A university spokesperson and program leaders disputed the report’s findings, highlighting the importance of academic freedom and human rights advocacy.
A university spokesperson said, despite disagreement with the report’s findings, the university will work with the committee to foster a welcoming environment.
“We disagree with the characterization of Georgetown in this report,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “However, we will continue to cooperate in good faith with the Committee while upholding our mission and continuing to promote an environment where all members of our community are welcomed and supported.”
In July 2025, Interim University President Robert M. Groves testified before the committee in a hearing about campus antisemitism, where members of Congress questioned Groves about alleged acts of antisemitism on campus and criticized the university’s financial ties to Qatar. In response, Groves avoided defending individual faculty members but reaffirmed Georgetown’s commitment to interreligious dialogue and academic freedom.
The report specifically focuses on Georgetown’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) and Alaweed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU). It claims the CCAS and ACMCU perpetuate antisemitism and vilify Israel through their reading lists for students, curricula, and partnerships with organizations such as the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), a nonprofit organization focused on Middle Eastern academia.
The report also includes allegations against other institutions, such as Harvard University and Northwestern University, whose leaders also testified before the committee at separate hearings.
The report claims speakers hosted by the centers spread anti-Israel rhetoric, such as Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac, whom the report cites as saying “Palestinian resistance is… not fueled by hate, it’s the natural resistance that any occupied people, any colonized people would undertake.”
It also claims Jewish members of MESA have left the organization due to anti-Israel sentiments, citing the Anti-Defamation League — an organization that aims to combat antisemitism — which gave MESA a “major concerns” rating on its academic association integrity index.
CCAS Director Fida Adely said the center uses Georgetown’s Jesuit values to foster dialogue about the Arab world.
“CCAS is committed to rigorous interdisciplinary scholarship that is grounded in diverse perspectives,” Adely wrote to The Hoya. “In our 50 year history, we have maintained a strong commitment to ethical engagement with the issues that are of central importance to the Arab world. We are unequivocally against all forms of hate and bias, and fully embrace Georgetown’s Jesuit values of academic freedom and a commitment to justice and the common good.”
The report also alleges that the center’s fundraising efforts for an endowed chair in Palestinian studies demonstrate Georgetown’s “one-sided narratives.” Currently, the university has a chair in Jewish civilization in the Center for Jewish Civilization.
ACMCU Director Nader Hashemi said the report weakens the definition of antisemitism by wielding it against universities.
“What I do worry about is that this weaponization of antisemitism to silence academic freedom and prevent any manifestation of discussion or support for Palestinian rights on this campus, is actually cheapening the concept of antisemitism, which is a very real problem in this world,” Hashemi told The Hoya.
“So from that perspective, the report does damage to the real fight against antisemitism,” Hashemi added. “And then, in more substantive ways, there’s an attempt to pressure universities with these false allegations of antisemitism, by trying to silence freedom and discussion for academic centers like mine.”
Several prominent Democrats have criticized congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump, arguing they are using antisemitism as a way to control U.S. universities. In March 2025, the Trump administration revoked roughly $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, alleging inaction regarding the persistent harassment of Jewish students.
Hashemi said the report indicates that some members of Congress disregard academic freedom and human rights, citing the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s classification of the Israel-Hamas war as apartheid.
“The people behind this report hate those two things,” Hashemi said. “They don’t believe in academic freedom. They want to silence it so that only a pro-Israel voice is heard, and they don’t believe in universal human rights. They believe in supporting the state of Israel as currently constituted, which, according to international law, is guilty of the crime of apartheid.”
The report also claims GU-Q spreads antisemitism through its support for faculty who have made allegedly antisemitic comments, failure to spread “Western values” abroad, and granting Qatar’s government influence in the United States through the satellite campus. The report also claims GU-Q has not disciplined any students or faculty for antisemitism since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the resulting war.
The university spokesperson said the university does not allow influence in its administration of GU-Q, and the campus exists to educate students abroad.
“Georgetown is a global research university guided by a Jesuit commitment to engage all over the world to promote the common good,” the spokesperson wrote. “Our campus in Qatar has helped educate nearly 1200 students in international affairs and advances American educational values while maintaining our unwavering commitment to academic and religious freedom, and inclusion and non-discrimination.”
“We independently manage our activities on all campuses including curriculum, research, and faculty hiring and report foreign gifts and contracts as required by federal law,” the spokesperson added.
Adeena Hossain (SFS-Q ’27), a GU-Q student, said she has not seen the Qatar campus advance antisemitism.
“These are serious accusations that are claiming that students and faculty at our campus are acting with discrimination or hostility towards Jewish people, which is simply not the case,” Hossain wrote to The Hoya. “Georgetown actively upholds its commitment to interfaith dialogue, and I have seen that dialogue happen in practice.”
Hossain also said she views the report as an insult because of its allegations that GU-Q does not promote “Western values.”
“‘Western values’ are treated in the report as a sort of tangible package that students studying on the Qatar campus lack, which is patronizing and ignorant,” Hossain wrote. “Critical thinking, pluralism, and free inquiry are not Western inventions. If anything, GU-Q strengthens those values by channeling them in a diverse environment where students are constantly challenged to engage across different cultures and perspectives.”
“I would invite anyone who wrote this report to have a single conversation with a GU-Q student,” Hossain added. “The attempts to paint us as brainwashed, close-minded, or hateful are not only wrong but insulting.”
Darius Wagner (CAS ’27), president of the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), said the Republican authors of the report are not genuinely concerned about antisemitism, citing the Trump administration’s broader attacks on higher education.
“It’s truly jarring to the extent that congressional Republicans are co-opting antisemitism as an issue in order to attack college campuses,” Wagner told The Hoya. “We have already routinely seen that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have not taking the serious issue of antisemitism.”
“So just forgive me, but I don’t find this report to be accurate or sympathetic to any causes to reducing hate on our campus, especially reducing antisemitism,” Wagner added.
Hossain highlighted the importance of academic freedom on human rights issues, saying a Georgetown degree teaches students to exercise free speech.
“While I cannot speak for every faculty member and student, I strongly believe that students have the right to speak up for what they believe is right, and that a university setting is precisely where that should happen,” Hossain wrote. “The education we are receiving at Georgetown is teaching us to think carefully, argue precisely, and stand behind causes we believe are just. As far as I am concerned, this is the degree working exactly as it should.”
