American University removed 286 online records of reports and announcements from university presidents before AU President Jon Alger in recent weeks, AWOL found in a records search.

The “President’s Reports and Announcements” webpage on AU’s website once gave access to reports dating back to April of 2006, according to an archived version of the page on Internet Archive’s WayBack Machine last captured on May, 24, 2025. Now, only announcements dating back to July 1, 2024, are accessible on the website. The vast majority are still accessible through the WayBack Machine, which archives previous versions of websites.

It’s unclear when these announcements became unavailable. AWOL reporters accessed some as recently as the week of Feb. 23.

Most of the 286 announcements were updates on leadership changes, the university’s strategic plans and university-wide events. Seven announcements released after Oct. 7, 2023, conveyed university policies or actions related to the campus climate amid the Israel-Hamas war, and several others alerted the community about on-campus hate incidents.

There is no evidence that the university removed any of the records based on subject — it removed all records of announcements from presidents before Alger from the page.

Elizabeth Deal, AU’s assistant vice president and deputy chief communications officer, wrote in an email to AWOL on Friday that removing outdated memorandums and other parts of the website is a routine part of the university’s transition to a new website content management system.

“The university website is intended to highlight current university activities rather than serve as a comprehensive historical archive,” Deal wrote. “As the university transitions to a new website content management system, the website is undergoing a standard audit and review to determine what content should be retained, archived, consolidated, or removed from the site in accordance with relevance or governance needs.”

Deal wrote that the removal of old online material will continue but that it is not specific to any particular part of the website

“This includes the removal of outdated or time-bound materials, such as older memos, profiles, or news items that no longer reflect current university activity,” she wrote. “This is a routine process that will continue over the coming months across multiple areas of the website and is not specific to any one section or office.”

In a Jan. 25, 2024, announcement, AU administrators announced the implementation of three campus policies. The administrators wrote that the university was prohibiting protests inside university buildings, mandating student organizations’ membership requirements be directly connected to their purposes and limiting the content that could appear on posters put on university property. These policies, administrators wrote, would promote a sense of belonging and safety after they said recent events had made Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome.

In another, from two months prior, then-AU President Sylvia Burwell wrote the university was working to address antisemitism and Islamophobia through measures like updating the AU Experience curricula and supporting AU Hillel.

“We are dedicated to this work because inclusion brings us together in community as a bulwark against hate,” Burwell wrote. “Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate and bigotry are antithetical to our mission and values.”

Nine others were about specific incidents of racism, antisemitism or Islamophobia from before Alger’s tenure.

In an announcement from May 1, 2017, then-AU President Neil Kerwin wrote that a racially-motivated incident had targeted the AU chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically-Black sorority. Bananas with “AKA Free” and “Harambe bait” had been found hanging from noose-shaped string on campus, according to a 2017 memorandum not part of the removed presidential announcements and reports. 

In an Oct. 20, 2023, letter, Burwell wrote that swastikas and a Nazi slogan had been found in Letts Hall. She condemned the act, which she wrote targeted members of AU’s Jewish community, and wrote the university was focusing on working to support and ensure the safety of community members. 

“I ask that as a community we recognize that our Jewish and Israeli community members and families are frightened,” Burwell wrote. “Our Muslim and Palestinian community members and families are frightened. Acts of hate, intimidation, and dehumanization cannot be the way we live together and treat one another.”

In another letter five days later, on Oct. 25, 2023, Burwell condemned a threatening note that was left under the door of a Palestinian staff member. Burwell said the university would take action against those found responsible for the note. 

Fifty-two removed announcements relayed information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the announcements the university removed were published over a decade before Alger’s inauguration.

One, published on June 10, 2009, was a copy of Kerwin’s testimony before a congressional subcommittee after chemicals and munitions were found on AU’s campus. Kerwin testified that AU was not involved in the placement of war material on its campus and had undergone years of interruptions, costs and “periodic safety concerns” as those items were found.

In an April 27, 2007, announcement released in the wake of a shooting at Virginia Tech, Kerwin wrote that the university was examining ways to expand awareness of its emergency response protocols. The university was going to better inform students, staff and faculty members about the protocols, publish condensed protocol materials and explore the possibility of implementing a text message alert system, Kerwin wrote.

Edited by Ben Austin, Sydnee Patak and Caleb Ogilvie.