Statement by Arab American GW Student Organizer Facing Racist Charges and Intimidation

IMAGE COURTESY OF STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Palestine Legal is sharing a statement from our client, Lance Lokas, an Arab American student organizer at George Washington University (GW) who has been repeatedly targeted by the university administration.

On Friday, February 23rd, he was once again dragged before a disciplinary hearing, merely for participating in an on-campus event.

Lance has already been placed on disciplinary probation and has been removed from the leadership of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GW in a blatant attempt to silence and discipline his speech and advocacy for Palestinian rights on campus. Now, GW SJP faces disbandment and Lance faces possible expulsion from the university.  

This is not the first time GW has engaged in anti-Palestinian discrimination. It is already under federal investigation for violations of Title VI of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, following its cancellation of trauma support services for Palestinian community members in 2021, among other acts of discrimination, including against Lance Lokas.

Read key excerpts from Lance’s opening statement below (edited for clarity and length):

Lance Lokas Opening Statement

My name is Lance Lokas and I am here today to represent myself against the allegations made against me for participating in a protest for Palestine on February 3rd. This is now the third time in what is just over a year that I have been forced to defend myself in conferences such as this one against false or distorted charges laid against me concerning my organizing for Palestine. For those who don’t know, Students for Justice in Palestine or SJP is a student organization of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and anti-Zionist students organizing for the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian people from Zionist occupation. I served as a student leader of SJP until I was removed from that role by this office in sanctions placed on me this past November.

In December of 2022, I sat in this office to defend myself and SJP, for whom I was serving as president at the time, against discriminatory claims that I placed a poster on Hillel’s private property, something which I did not do. I was personally accosted by Zionists and Hillel later sent out a defamatory email that accused me of anti-semitism and held me personally responsible for the poster on their property. I was later, however, exonerated, only when a Jewish student stepped forward and admitted responsibility. 

In November of 2023, I again sat in this office to defend myself and SJP, for whom I am no longer currently in leadership, against distorted charges of non-compliance and regulation violation in response to a projection action intended to honor the what is now over 30 thousand martyrs who have been murdered in the ongoing genocide and protest the Islamophobic and racist statements made by President Ellen Granberg in response to our community’s mourning. Despite our best attempts to comply with the Student Code of Conduct, despite initial confirmation from GWPD that we could continue the projections, despite there not existing a single policy banning projections, and despite the fact that we complied and took the projections down, I was found in violation of all charges. I was placed on disciplinary probation until the end of this semester and removed as the leader of SJP and any registered student organization. 

Today, I am here once again to defend myself against new charges of non-compliance and a student conduct outcome violation, charges that are contradicted and disproven by the very evidence that the office of Students Rights and Responsibilities has themselves provided me with. From my perspective, it’s pretty clear what’s going on. SJP is vocally opposing the genocide of Palestinians, a position the GW administration apparently disagrees with. Like on many campuses across the country, Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied voices are being silenced in the moment when they are most essential.

I am not the only one who has faced these continued acts of political repression. I am merely the latest in a long history of students, faculty, staff, and organizers at this University who have been targeted for speaking out for Palestine. Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and community members have faced wave after wave of attacks from GW’s administration and Zionist actors on our campus. In 2006, Palestinian law student Fadi Kiblawi was publicly accused of being a terrorist by the then Director of GW Hillel for supporting divestment against companies that aid Israel in its crimes against Palestinians. In 2015, Palestinian student Ramie Abounaja was forced by GWPD to take a Palestinian flag down from his window, and was threatened by SRR with disciplinary action, the same disciplinary action I am being threatened with today. In 2021, the Office of Advocacy and Support was forced by GW administration at the behest of GW Hillel to shut down an event intended to be a processing space for Palestinians in the wake of the 2021 attacks on Gaza, after which administration threatened the staff into issuing a public apology and eventually shut down the OAS office altogether. 

GW has demonstrated a clear and consistent pattern of repression against pro-Palestinian activism for years and these charges laid against me are simply the latest iteration of GW’s discriminatory actions against Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and anti-Zionist students. But in response to these actions, the movement for Palestine at GW has only grown larger and larger. Hundreds of students have participated in walkouts, sit-ins, marches, and rallies in support of Palestine and divestment and against the racist, political repression and attacks made against Palestinians and their allies and GW’s administration has continued to try harder and harder to silence students, banning SJP, issuing public statements maligning students as “celebrat[ing] terrorism”, and threatening allied organizations with disciplinary action for their protests, but this repression has not stopped students from organizing for Palestine.

It is clear to me that today I am being scapegoated by administration once again, faced with false charges that intend to make me into an example of what happens to students who speak up against injustice in Palestine. But what this University does not seem to understand is that this movement is so much larger than one individual or organization. Silencing me will not silence our community, who will never stop fighting against the genocide that is abducting, torturing, starving, and slaughtering their families and friends. Silencing me will not silence our movement—because it is made up of thousands of students who see the crimes enacted against the people of Gaza and firmly believe in the cause of justice and liberation for the people of Palestine. 

Regarding Alleged Policy Violations

I have complied with the sanctions placed on me to the best of my ability, removing myself from leadership in any student organization and participating in on-campus events as my sanctions allow. I firmly reject the charge laid against me of violating my student outcome decision.

The past four-and-a-half months have been some of the most difficult of my life. I have watched this horrific genocide unfold day after day, while continuing to try my best to pursue an education, while being constantly doxxed, harassed, and threatened for speaking out for Palestine. I have willingly undergone these proceedings time and time again despite the false and distorted charges, complied with University policies and the terms of my sanctions and yet I am now being threatened with suspension, expulsion, and removal from housing for exercising my constitutional rights and participating in student activism in the same way that many others do.

The evidence and witnesses today will demonstrate that I did not violate any policies or the terms of my sanctions. I appreciate your time as panelists and I hope we can resolve this as quickly as possible so I can return to my work as a student and organizer.

Thank you.