Washington
Congress cancels hearing on George Washington U protests after police clear encampment
(JTA) — Police in Washington, DC cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment from the campus of George Washington University and arrested 33 people early Wednesday, hours before a Congressional hearing was set to pressure local leaders on their response to the protest.
Shortly after the arrests, the Republican-led congressional committee canceled the hearing. Lawmakers had planned to grill DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and police chief Pamela Smith on why, prior to Wednesday morning’s arrests, the district had not clamped down on “unlawful activity and antisemitism” at the encampment. Washington police had previously rejected the university’s pleas to intervene on campus, citing the optics of disciplining protesters.
The arrests also follow the publication of dueling faculty letters supporting and opposing the encampment. One of the professors who had circulated the anti-encampment letter backed the arrests.
“It’s always upsetting when police have to get involved in this way, but I think there was no alternative,” Daniel Schwartz, a professor of Jewish history at GWU, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Their presence was a disturbance to many students, especially given the location. Final exams were being moved.”
Concerns about campus antisemitism
The letter Schwartz and a non-Jewish GWU colleague, Eric Arnesen, had circulated was signed by more than 100 university faculty and staff, many of them Jewish and most from the DC area.
The letter endorsed protecting peaceful protest but expressed concern about the allegations of antisemitism and said the demonstrations weren’t representative of the campus as a whole.
“While we oppose any attempt to ascribe antisemitic intent to all or even most of the protesters, it is indisputable that there have been numerous cases of harassment, abuse, and even physical violence against Jewish students on college campuses since October 7,” Schwartz and Ernesen’s open letter states. Later, they write, “We agree that student speech and protest should be respected — provided they follow reasonable university regulations and do not veer into the realm of harassment.”
A separate open letter from area faculty that had expressed support for the encampments, and downplayed reports of antisemitism among their participants, was signed by more than 500 people.
Universities across the country have struggled to find the right response to the encampments, which have gone up at dozens of schools over the past few weeks. Some have struck deals to clear them peacefully, and others have sent in law enforcement to break them up, leading to more than 2,500 arrests nationwide.
Jewish students and faculty on campuses with encampments have reported being harassed by protesters and say they create a hostile atmosphere, while many of the protests have featured Jewish contingents.
Protests at GWU over the Israel-Hamas war have often taken on a more aggressive tone than similar campus protests. Last fall the school suspended its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and the White House specifically called out the activists’ actions, after “Glory to our martyrs” was projected onto the side of a campus building named after a Jewish donor.
The campus had calmed down since the fall, but tensions flared up again with the recent encampments, Schwartz said. Recent encampment behavior has reportedly included blocking students’ ability to move through campus, replacing an American flag with a Palestinian flag and putting a keffiyeh onto a campus statue of George Washington. GWU President Ellen Granberg has also been a direct target of the protesters, both at fundraisers and on campus.
When the encampments sprang up in late April, GW Hillel called for the university “to take all needed actions to maintain a safe campus environment for all,” calling them “an embrace of hate” and stating, “We say unequivocally that no student’s rights to be safe, to pursue their education, and to be proud Jews should be compromised in response to another student’s actions.”
Days before the arrests, Granberg made a plea to DC law enforcement to help manage the “illegal” protests. Both Granberg and police said they gave the protesters several warnings to leave the encampment before arrests were made and offered an alternative protest site. Granberg wrote in a message to campus that the administration had “conducted regular and sustained dialogues” with encampment leaders.
“I fully support and encourage our community to speak out and engage in controversial and critical dialogues on these crucial issues — as long as they occur within the limits of our university’s policies and the District’s laws,” she wrote. “However, what is currently happening at GW is not a peaceful protest protected by the First Amendment or our university’s policies. The demonstration, like many around the country, has grown into what can only be classified as an illegal and potentially dangerous occupation of GW property.”
Prior to their arrest, members of the recent encampment at the school chanted slogans linking the Israel Defense Forces to the Ku Klux Klan, according to the Hatchet, the student newspaper.
Granberg “deserves a lot of credit for how she’s handled this,” Schwartz said. “And I’m certain she’ll be taking an enormous amount of flak, not only from students but from faculty.”
Washington
Washington alum Jayden Johannsen returning to MVFC and transferring to Murray State
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Five years after transferring out of North Dakota State, a former Washington High School star is coming back to the Missouri Valley Football Conference with the chance to play his former school as well as the programs from his home state.
After four stellar seasons at Division Two South Dakota Mines, quarterback Jayden Johannsen will transfer and play his final season of eligibility with the Division FCS Murray State Racers.
At Washington Jayden was a three year starter under center for the Warriors, passing for 2100 yards and 22 touchdowns while rushing for 300 yards and five more scores, helping lead the Warriors to 33 straight wins and three 11AAA state titles.
After graduating in 2019 Johannsen initially went to NDSU but transferred to Mines after one redshirt year where he would throw for nearly 8200 yards and 74 touchdowns and run for another 1600 yards and 24 from 2020 through 2023. He was nominated in 2022 for the Harlon Hill award, Division Two’s version of the Heisman Trophy.
With the addition of Johannsen the Racers now have five quarterbacks on their roster. However, with the other four quarterbacks having combined to play only one game at the college level, Jayden’s experience gives him a good chance to be Murray State’s starting quarterback in 2024.
Should that happen it coincidentally comes in a year where the Racers will play all four Dakota schools. Jayden’s first game against a school from his home state would be against the University of South Dakota in Kentucky on October 5th. A few weeks later, on October 26th, he’d face the program he began his college career with, North Dakota State, also in Murray, Kentucky. Then a week later, on November 2nd, he’d come back to native soil for the Racers game at two-time defending FCS National Champion South Dakota State in Brookings.
Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
Washington
True Freshman Talent at Washington – Khmori House
Washington’s Spring roster featured a handful of early-enrollee freshmen. For players that would otherwise still be in high school, several of them started to show the kind of potential they might have for the future of this program. One of them was linebacker Khmori House. The class of 2024 early-enrollee was a three-star recruit out of St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California. The Trinity League in Southern California is known to be one of the nation’s most competitive high school leagues. In three seasons at the varsity level at St. John Bosco, House recorded 118 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and five pass breakups. He was a productive player at linebacker and strong safety for the Braves. And his transition to Big Ten Football has been fluid thus far.
Recognition from Robert Bala
After Washington’s final open practice of the Spring, we asked linebacker coach Robert Bala if there was a player in his room who had taken the biggest step this Spring. He immediately pointed to the true freshman House. “He’s done a really good job of understanding what we ask him to do either fundamentally, technically, schematically.”
That football knowledge and overall ability to digest the defensive scheme under Bala and Steve Belichick is critical. It will earn him time on the field earlier in his career. Bala continued, “He’s been a bright spot for us this spring and I think he is going to have an opportunity to get on the field a lot earlier in his career.” He’s a player who had been on campus for a little over four months at the time. This recognition speaks volumes to what the coaching staff believes House can be, and how well he’s already been performing.
What Khmori House Does Well
You notice a few things right off the bat when watching House play linebacker. One of which is his size for a true freshman. He is listed at 6’-0” and 187 pounds but his build does not look like that of a true freshman. House uses his size to deliver physical contact on ball carriers and blockers. There were multiple occasions this Spring when we heard a “pop” during the play. A closer look revealed it was the number 28 on the delivering end of the blow. His high school tape backs this up as well. House did not shy away from laying down hard contact. His size helps him be a dependable tackler, bringing players down to the turf consistently.
The other thing that stands out about the linebacker is his speed and athleticism. House’s high school film show him getting up in run fits as well as sliding back into coverage. He is able to use his quickness to get around the offensive line in rush defense and to close in on the wide receiver in pass defense. This Spring, that quickness was on display. House’s footwork during linebacker drills and agility in live play make him a versatile player for Bala.
Khmori House’s Speed in Pressure
One of the plays that stood out this Spring was not one you would see in the stat book. Rather, it was a run-down of Washington’s speedy quarterback Demond Williams Jr. During one of the team scrimmages in April, Williams lined up in shotgun where he took the snap and fled the pocket to his right. He initially looked to have an angle to the outside. But House shot out of the middle level of the defense. The linebacker’s angle and quickness forced Williams to stretch his run to the sideline rather than upfield. Instead of a five-yard gain around the edge, House forced Williams out of bounds for no gain. The awareness and athleticism of House to get an angle on Williams were impressive. Though it was just one small play, it reinforces his potential to be a multi-faceted player on this defense who will see the field early on.
Photo courtesy: Nick Lemkau, Last Word on College Football
Washington
A page from history: George Washington’s inauguration Bible comes to Westport | Westport Journal
By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Many towns in New England claim, “George Washington slept here.” Whether Westport can make that claim or not, Westporters can be certain the Bible used at the inauguration of the nation’s first president has visited Westport.
On Saturday, the 257-year-old George Washington Inaugural Bible was proudly displayed for the community by the men of Westport’s Masonic Lodge, Temple No. 65, to mark the lodge’s 200th anniversary.
The Westport Masonic Lodge was chartered on May 12, 1824, before the town of Westport itself was incorporated, and is one of the oldest organizations in town, according to Richard Ruggiano, worshipful master of the Westport temple.
The hands of four U.S. presidents have rested on the Bible during their inauguration, who in addition to Washington, include Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter. George W. Bush also would have been sworn in using the Bible, but because it was raining the priceless Bible couldn’t be exposed to the weather, Ruggiano said.
The Bible was also present at the funerals for Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and at ceremonies to lay the cornerstone for both the U.S. Capitol building and the Washington Monument, he said.
“We should be sharing this with our community,” Ruggiano said of the Bible, which is owned by Masonic Lodge St. John’s No. 1 A.Y.M. (Ancient York Masons) in New York. “It has never been shone in Connecticut.”
The Bible’s public display Saturday drew Westport residents, members of nearby Masonic lodges and even “Benjamin Franklin,” a.k.a. Westport lodge member Chris Jennings, who portrayed Franklin. The real Franklin was a friend of Washington’s Jennings said in a presentation to visitors.
In his presentation, Jennings recounted the history preceding Washington’s inauguration, from the perspective of Franklin. He referred to Washington as “a young Virginia militia colonel,” 20 years before he became leader of a new nation.
Washington did not sign the Declaration of Independence because he was in New York state with his troops, according to Jennings, and was one of the nation’s founding fathers who believed it was important for the national legislature to have two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Washington’s inauguration as the first president of the United States took place in 1789 at Federal Hall in New York City, according to information from St. John’s lodge. It lay open on a crimson velvet cushion when the oath of office was administered to Washington by the first secretary of the U.S. Senate, Samuel Otis. Among those present were the nation’s first vice president, John Adams; the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay; the first secretary of war, Henry Knox, and the first governor of New York, George Clinton.
Many of the nation’s founders were Masons, Ruggiano said, including Washington himself, his generals and many of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.
On Saturday, the Inaugural Bible made the trip from Manhattan accompanied by four members of St. John’s lodge, who donned white gloves and flanked the Bible as it was displayed in the local lodge to ensure its safety.
“We hire a conservation organization to take care of it,” said Andreas Vavaroutsos, a member of the New York lodge and part of the group that transported the Bible. The men drove the Bible to the Westport lodge at 210 Post Road East, and planned to drive it back to New York on Saturday evening.
It took Ruggiano many years to arrange for the Bible to be displayed in conjunction with the Westport lodge’s bicentennial, he said. But with arrangements complete and the Bible at the center of attention on a special day for the Westport lodge, he said, “We feel graced and blessed.”
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.
-
World1 week ago
India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and what’s at stake?
-
News1 week ago
Skeletal remains found almost 40 years ago identified as woman who disappeared in 1968
-
Politics1 week ago
US Border Patrol agents come under fire in 'use of force' while working southern border
-
Politics1 week ago
Tales from the trail: The blue states Trump eyes to turn red in November
-
World1 week ago
Borrell: Spain, Ireland and others could recognise Palestine on 21 May
-
World1 week ago
Catalans vote in crucial regional election for the separatist movement
-
World1 week ago
Europe matters to consumers, and so does your vote
-
Politics1 week ago
North Dakota gov, former presidential candidate Doug Burgum front and center at Trump New Jersey rally