Report highlights $1B in Qatari funding to Georgetown since 2005
A new report has shed greater light on Qatari funding of an elite Washington, D.C. university.
The document notes that, 'Georgetown University has received approximately $1.073 billion from Qatar since establishing its Qatar campus in 2005.'
A new report has shed greater light on Qatari funding of an elite Washington, D.C. university.
The report on Georgetown University, titled “Foreign Infiltration: Georgetown University, Qatar, and the Muslim Brotherhood,” was published this month by the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism and Policy (ISGAP). The findings were shared in reporting by the Jewish Journal on June 10.
The report arrives at several conclusions, including that Georgetown has received “extensive” foreign funding and that the university has experienced the “normalization” of “Islamic ideology.”
“Georgetown University has received approximately $1.073 billion from Qatar since establishing its Qatar campus in 2005, with credible evidence of underreporting to the U.S. Department of Education,” ISGAP’s report states. “This is in addition to other grants and funding it has received from various other Arab countries.”
Earlier this year, Georgetown renewed its partnership with the Qatar Foundation for 10 years, according to Jewish Journal. The school also awarded an honor to a figure within the Qatari royal family, Sheikha Moza, who had posted a “tribute to Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader widely identified as the architect” of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, according to the report.
The significant funding that Georgetown receives from the Middle East could lead to what ISGAP calls “ideological influence” at Georgetown. “These foreign contributions have significantly influenced Georgetown’s academic environment, research priorities, and faculty recruitment,” ISGAP explains.
In particular, ISGAP notes that Qatari influence on Georgetown could have outsized importance for the country as a whole, given that many Georgetown alumni go on to “occupy prominent positions” in international diplomacy, including at the State Department.
ISGAP also reports that Georgetown has seen anti-Semitic activities on its campuses, including “pro-Hamas demonstrations” and “BDS-related activism.”
Campus Reform has reported about specific instances of anti-Israel rhetoric on Georgetown’s campus, including the school admitting a former Hamas official and student activists hosting a pro-Palestine protest in which demonstrators occupied a campus building.
Following these events, this month the House Committee on Education and the Workforce requested that Georgetown’s Interim President Robert Groves testify about the school’s anti-Semitism response on July 9.
Campus Reform has contacted Georgetown University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
