GWU Grad Sues School, Ernst & Young Over Gaza ‘Genocide’ Remarks

Ernst & Young LLP illegally fired a George Washington University graduate soon after her commencement speech for remarks about what she called the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza, a lawsuit asserts.

EY, GWU and several officials affiliated with both institutions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the DC Human Rights Act when they participated in a “coordinated institutional assault” on her livelihood and reputation, Cecilia Culver says in her lawsuit filed Wednesday with the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Less than 24 hours after her May 17, 2025 graduation address, EY had locked her out of her work email account and placed her on administrative leave, according to Culver’s complaint. “EY’s own written notice admitted the reason: the leave was imposed ‘in connection with your speech at the George Washington University commencement,’” she says.

Yet no policy violation was identified, Culver says. “No investigation had been conducted. No hearing was offered.”

A GWU spokesperson also issued public statements characterizing Ms. Culver’s speech as “materially different” from her submission and announcing a formal investigation for alleged “policy violations” without naming them, according to the filing. Though the school’s rationale for its actions is that Culver was “somehow dishonest” because her delivered address differed from a previously submitted draft, “that does not withstand scrutiny,” she says.

Culver alleges that after EY fired her, “the ‘dishonesty’ narrative was constructed to justify a termination decision that had already been made” in response to an “organized external Zionist pressure campaign” triggered by an online doxing platform led by an infamous hate merchant, Liora Reznichenko, who she describes as an aspiring social media influencer who’s behind the website StopAntisemitism.org.

Reznichenko—who is not named as a defendant—and her site engage in misinformation campaigns and “institutional intimidation” while they collaborate with “extremist far-right groups,” in part to perpetuate anti-Palestinian racism, Culver alleges.

Reznichenko didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about her reaction to the lawsuit.

Culver says she didn’t use the term “genocide” as a rhetorical device in her speech, but as a “concrete legal prohibition that exists in federal and international law.”

Israel’s “genocidal campaign” in Palestine has been recognized by international courts, United Nations experts, and even U.S. courts, Culver says in her complaint. “Demanding an end to this genocide and justice for the people being annihilated is not only lawful and constitutionally protected, but also a legal imperative upon all nations under the Genocide Convention.”

Nether EY nor GWU immediately responded to requests for comment about Culver’s lawsuit.

Culver seeks compensatory damages, including full back pay, raises, bonuses, and retirement contributions, and front pay for “10-plus years.” She also seeks $5 million in total for “emotional distress and professional ostracization.”

Hamed Law represents Culver.

The case is Culver v. Ernst & Young LLP, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-01290, complaint 4/15/26.