A former employee of consulting giant Ernst & Young (EY) is suing the firm, claiming she was wrongfully dismissed after her graduation speech, in which she accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza, went viral.
Cecilia Culver worked at the prominent company for five months after progressing from a successful internship.
However, she says she was suspended and then fired after the speech, which she delivered to cap off the graduation ceremony at George Washington University in 2025, generated controversy online.
In her address, Culver criticised the university for its investment ties to Israel, saying she was “ashamed to know my tuition [fee] is being used to fund this genocide”.
"I call upon the class of 2025 to withhold donations and continue advocating for disclosure and divestment,” she added.
University officials said they had reviewed an earlier version of the speech, which they claimed did not include the remarks regarding Israel, and called Culver’s conduct in introducing the comments following this review “inappropriate and dishonest”.
Less than 24 hours later, EY placed Culver on administrative leave. After four days, during which she made a discrimination complaint, she was fired.
In her lawsuit, filed with a federal court in Washington DC, her lawyers claim that the firm acquiesced to an “organised external Zionist pressure campaign” and “rolling, real-time, crowdsourced demands for adverse action [and] a continuous cascade of tagged institutional contact sustained over hours and days”.
The case, the filing adds, is an “extension to a human rights movement” brought by Culver “because she was a 22-year-old economist at the beginning of a distinguished career, who gave a six-minute speech at her own graduation, and who lost her job for it”.
The claimant is seeking full back pay, raises, bonuses, and retirement contributions, as well as “10 years plus” of front pay and a further $5 million for “emotional distress and professional ostracisation”.
Neither EY nor GWU has publicly responded to the filing.
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