Dara Orenstein is an Assistant Professor in the Department of American Studies at George Washington University, where she teaches courses on cultural and political economy. While her scholarship focuses on U.S. capitalism and infrastructure, Orenstein has become a prominent faculty activist whose public record shows deep alignment with anti-Israel campaigns and politicized faculty organizing. She is also a founding member of the Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) chapter at GWU, the group leading faculty coordination of pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist advocacy on campus.
Record of Advocacy & Ideological Bias
Faculty Activism and Public Statements
Apr 2025: Orenstein stated that the new GWU AAUP chapter (American Association of University Professors) aims to protect academic freedom and help faculty “resist federal overreach,” particularly from the Trump administration. She described the chapter as a space for “organizing and problem-solving,” aligning her conception of academic freedom with political resistance.
Apr 2024: Signed an Open Letter from Faculty and Staff across the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia Region, supporting pro-Palestinian academic activism and condemning Israel’s military response to Hamas.
May 2021: Signed a Statement on Palestine from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia Academics, denouncing Israel’s actions and expressing solidarity with the “Palestinian struggle for liberation.”
Nov 2024: Signed an open letter titled “U.S. Faculty to University and College Presidents Nationwide: Defend Our Campuses by Contesting—Not Capitulating to—Authoritarianism and Repression.” The statement opposed university disciplinary action against pro-Palestinian student activists and framed administrative accountability measures as “repression.”
Oct 2023: Signed the “Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG)” petition, a faculty and artist initiative that accused Israel of genocide and called for global cultural resistance to its military campaign.
Dec 2023: Signed a letter by Scholars Against the War on Palestine, demanding a ceasefire and accusing Israel of committing atrocities against civilians.
May 2024: Signed a letter announcing an academic and cultural boycott of Columbia University and Barnard College, declaring solidarity with encampment protesters and demanding institutional divestment from Israel, which she described as complicit in “U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Feb 2025: Signed a petition to the American Historical Association Council urging members to “rescind their veto of the Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza,” aligning with faculty efforts to institutionalize anti-Israel rhetoric within professional associations.
Apr 2024: Signed an academic letter condemning Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s educational infrastructure, accusing Israel of “systematic destruction of knowledge.”
Feb 2024: Signed a “Call for an Immediate Ceasefire” urging the U.S. to pressure Israel to end its military campaign in Gaza.
Earlier Political Involvement
Aug 2014: Signed a boycott petition targeting the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, demanding reinstatement of anti-Israel professor Steven Salaita, who had been dismissed after inflammatory online posts.
Sep 2016: Signed a petition against Canary Mission, a database that documents antisemitic and extremist activity among student activists.
Political Framing
Throughout her public record, Orenstein has consistently merged her academic authority with anti-Israel activism, signing petitions and letters that accuse Israel of genocide, apartheid, and colonial domination. Her leadership in FSJP at GWU places her at the center of faculty organizing that seeks to shield pro-Hamas activism under the banner of “academic freedom.”
Dara Orenstein’s activism typifies a broader trend within American Studies departments, where academic rhetoric about decolonization and justice is repurposed to justify one-sided political advocacy. Through petitions, boycotts, and faculty mobilization, Orenstein uses her institutional position to normalize extreme anti-Israel positions in academia while positioning them as moral imperatives.
