As recently shared, the George Washington University community was invited to participate in a review and offer feedback on four policies as prompted by a voluntary resolution agreement entered into with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. These policies were:
- Equal Opportunity, Nondiscrimination, Anti-Harassment, and Non-Retaliation Policy
- Demonstrations Policy
- Poster Policy
- Barring People from Campus Policy
The review process resulted in robust GW community engagement, with 2,054 individual policy views and 127 submitted feedback forms across the four policies.
The community was invited to participate in this review process, which resulted in robust community engagement with a total of 2,054 individual policy views and 127 submitted feedback forms across the four policies.
The community feedback was reviewed in full, and thematic summaries were developed. This feedback raised important questions, prompted further considerations and allowed for opportunities to clarify and reinforce consistency and transparency language, which resulted in meaningful enhancements to the policies. Links to the summaries and final active, revised policies are below:
- Demonstrations Policy: Thematic Summary and Final Policy
- Poster Policy: Thematic Summary and Final Policy
- Equal Opportunity, Nondiscrimination, Anti-Harassment, and Non-Retaliation Policy (EO Policy): Thematic Summary and Final Policy
- Barring People from Campus Policy: Thematic Summary and Final Policy
In addition to policy revisions, this review process yielded additional enhancements to the operational approach to address and combat discrimination and harassment, including the development of Discrimination, Harassment, and Related Retaliation Complaint Procedures to accompany the EO Policy.
These procedures centralize the university’s approach for all members of the community and introduce a new reporting form for all reports and complaints of discrimination or harassment on the basis of protected characteristics defined in the EO Policy. The procedures also outline a process for report and complaint review and referral by the new Office of Access and Opportunity (OAO) within the Office for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE).
This centralized approach allows the university to assess whether the cumulative effects of a series of incidents may have resulted in a hostile environment and to take appropriate action to remedy as needed. Other reporting channels, such as the Bias Incident Report Form, are being discontinued. ODECE will continue its mission of support and provide resources to community members who experience or witness bias-related incidents. More information is available through the Bias Support Services website.
In the coming months, the university will continue to assess policy processes and explore opportunities for enhancements. As part of this initial policy review work, a permanent policy review process for engaging the GW community about the development of new policies or revisions to current policies was developed and finalized over several months in close consultation with the Faculty Senate, Student Government Association, and Staff Council. The Guidelines for University Policy Review Process can be found on the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Risk website.
As a reminder, the community feedback period on the university’s new Anti-Hazing Policy closes at noon on May 23, 2025.