Georgetown University has removed UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese from its list of affiliated scholars, deleting her biography and profile from the university’s website, according to archived web pages reviewed this week.
Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, had been listed as an affiliated scholar at Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration. Her name and photograph were recently removed, and her dedicated biography page has also been taken down.
The university has not responded to requests for comment on the decision.
The removal was first reported by UN Watch, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization that monitors the United Nations and has led a sustained campaign against Albanese, accusing her of antisemitism, Holocaust inversion and support for extremist rhetoric targeting Israel.
Albanese has been publicly condemned for antisemitism by the governments of Canada, Germany and France, making her the first UN official to face such rebukes from multiple Western democracies. Earlier this year, the United States imposed sanctions on Albanese, cutting her off from US-based financial activity.
In a recent interview discussing the impact of the US sanctions, Albanese said she had lost an academic affiliation with a university, a remark that appears to align with Georgetown’s decision.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, welcomed the move, saying academic institutions should not provide platforms to officials who “traffic in antisemitic rhetoric or excuse terrorism.”
“This sends an important message that UN titles do not grant immunity from accountability,” Neuer said, calling on the United Nations to remove Albanese from her post.
Dr. David Jacobs, a member of the governing council of the University of Toronto, described the development as significant, noting that Albanese had previously relied on academic affiliations to lecture at universities worldwide.
Georgetown’s decision also comes amid renewed scrutiny of foreign funding at US universities. A recent report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism said Georgetown has received roughly $1 billion from Qatar since 2005, raising questions about the influence of foreign donors on academic environments.
Albanese has not publicly commented on Georgetown’s decision.