WATCH: GW Graduate Hijacks Commencement Speech: "None Of Us Are Free Until Palestine Is Free"

On what should have been a day of celebration for George Washington University’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2025, Cecilia Culver, an economics and statistics graduate, hijacked her commencement speech to deliver a vitriolic attack on Israel, accusing it of “genocide” and “apartheid.”

Her words, met with thunderous applause from some and stunned silence from others, turned a moment of unity into a divisive spectacle, exposing not just her ignorance but a troubling trend of performative activism that sacrifices truth for applause.

Culver’s address, as captured in a viral Instagram post by Endjewhatred, was a masterclass in oversimplification. “I cannot celebrate my own graduation without a heavy heart, knowing how many students in Palestine have been forced to stop their studies, expelled from their homes, and killed for simply remaining in the country of their ancestors,” she declared, her voice rising with rehearsed indignation.

She went on, “I am ashamed to know my tuition is being used to fund this genocide,” repeating the charge for effect, as if volume could mask her lack of evidence. She accused GW of refusing to divest from Israel, an “apartheid state,” and claimed the administration “oppressed” those who dared to speak out, urging her peers to push for “disclosure and divestment” until “Palestine is free.”

The audacity of her claims is matched only by their shallowness.

Culver, who reportedly works at Ernst & Young, offered no specifics to back her accusations, no data on GW’s investments, no proof of how tuition funds “genocide,” no acknowledgment of the complex history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Instead, she leaned on tripe buzzwords like “imperialist system” and “moral backbone,” as if sloganeering could substitute for scholarship. Her speech, which strayed from the pre-approved text submitted to GW, violated university protocol, prompting an investigation into potential breaches of the Student Code of Conduct, according to GW Hatchet. Yet, she admitted to expecting backlash, telling the Hatchet, “I’ll take that,” as if martyrdom were the goal, not dialogue.

What Culver conveniently ignored is the reality of October 7, 2023. Her painfully one-sided narrative erased these truths, painting Israel as a cartoonish villain while absolving Hamas of its documented atrocities, including its charter’s call for Jewish genocide.

Her claim that GW’s refusal to divest encourages “genocide” ignores the university’s long-standing rejection of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), a movement GW opposes for stifling academic freedom and targeting Israel disproportionately.

The fallout was immediate and visceral. Jewish students, already grappling with rising campus antisemitism, evidenced by 2023 incidents like anti-Israel projections on GW’s Gelman Library reading “Glory to Our Martyrs”, felt betrayed. “Multiple students reached out in real time, terrified and heartbroken that their special day has been frighteningly ruined,” @endjewhatred posted.

The Instagram post called out GW for “thanking” Culver’s views, sarcastically noting it was more like thanking her for “lies and false narratives which incite hatred and violence to Jews.”

Culver’s stunt wasn’t just ignorant, it was cruel. She weaponized a commencement, a milestone meant to unite, to push a narrative she barely understands.

Her call for divestment echoes BDS campaigns that, as the Jewish Virtual Library notes, have been rejected by 57% of U.S. campuses, with only 1% adopting such resolutions. GW’s own history with BDS, including a 2018 student senate vote to divest that failed to sway administrators, shows the movement’s limited traction. Culver’s accusation that GW prioritizes “profit and donations” over students ignores the university’s efforts to address antisemitism, like its 2025 fellowship on Jewish inclusion.

This wasn’t courage, although I'm sure she thought it was. It was just cowardice dressed as conviction. For Jewish graduates, who’ve faced harassment at GW, from Snapchat slurs in 2019 to quarantine-related antisemitism in 2020, her words reminded them that their identity is still a target (although it's doubtful they have forgotten).

For now, Culver's babyish, trite and pathetic tantrum stands as a cautionary tale to so-called 'elite' graduates, who are nothing more than Hamas mouthpieces, with an expensive education to boot. A sad state of affairs indeed.