Three unidentified individuals spray-painted the entrance to the McDonough School of Business (MSB) ahead of General Joseph Votel’s appearance at a Business of Leadership event, on the morning of Oct. 16. The pro-Palestine, anti-U.S. military spray paint was quickly removed by facilities workers, according to a university-wide email.
The spray paint framed the door to the Hariri Building, which houses the MSB. On one side of the door it read: “No War Criminals on Campus” and the other side of the door read “US Army = Terror Org.” This writing was also accompanied by two red triangles, a symbol used by pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses across the U.S.
Jay Gruber, Associate Vice President of Public Safety, and Rosemary Kilkenny, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer sent an email Wednesday morning notifying the student body about the incident and said the perpetrators remain unknown.
“In reviewing video footage of the area, these acts appear to have been conducted at 5:09 a.m. by three individuals, wearing black hoodies and black pants,” they wrote. The email also asked that students report information about the incident to GUPD.
This is the second related incident of graffiti this year. The first was spray-painted ahead of homecoming weekend to protest Israel’s bombardment and siege on Gaza and killing of thousands of Palestinians.
This second piece of graffiti also comes in the wake of a poster installation in Red Square on Tuesday morning, decrying a recent Israeli airstrike on the al-Aqsa hospital. Videos and images have widely circulated on social media of a young man being burned alive in the tent camp fire ignited by the Israeli airstrike. The young man, whose burning figure was depicted on the posters, was Shaaban Al-Dalu, a 20-year-old software engineering student who was described by his older brother as “the rose of the family.”
Georgetown has seen a series of protests since Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage. Since then, Israel has invaded and bombarded Gaza, killing over 42,000 people, displacing nearly the entire population, and destroying 60% of buildings. In March, the United Nations Special Rapporteur and Affiliate Scholar at Georgetown, Francesca Albanese, has reported that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza.
This morning, an Instagram account @georgetownintifada posted a video showing an individual wearing a black hoodie spray-painting the entrance to the building in the early hours of the morning. The same account posted a video of the September graffiti. The video’s caption explained the perpetrators’ motivation behind the spray-painting and the details of General Votel’s visit.
“On Wednesday morning, autonomous actors left a message for General Joseph Votel ahead of his appearance at the McDonough School of Business “Business of Leadership” event, featuring war profiteers: NO WAR CRIMINALS ON CAMPUS,” the caption read. “Votel, the former head of CENTCOM, is not welcome on our campus, nor are the other genocidal panelists. THE US ARMY IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Hands off the Middle East!”
Joseph Votel is a retired four star General in the United States Army and the former commander of United States Central Command (Centcom) from March 2016 to March 2019. The “Business of Leadership” panel also features “senior government officials, military strategists, and defense industry executives” according to its description on the MSB website.
The Instagram post by @georgetownintifada referenced Votel’s role in the U.S. army and an op-ed he wrote in the Washington Post supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza as reasons for the graffiti opposing his visit.
The red triangles used in the graffiti, which were also drawn on the base of John Caroll in September. Now common in college protests, a red triangle was initially used as a symbol during the 1917 Arab Revolt and is part of the Palestinian flag. Since then, the Al-Qassem Brigades, Hamas’s military wing which carried out the Oct. 7 attack, has used the symbol to identify Israeli military assets before striking them.
The email from Kilkenny and Gruber stated that the university is investigating the incident as a crime with the Metropolitan Police Department.
“We condemn this act and are coordinating with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in the investigation of this crime. This incident, and a similar act that occurred on campus on September 20, 2024, are unacceptable and are contrary to our values as a University community. Anyone found responsible will be held accountable,” the email read.
