{"id":103375,"date":"2023-04-21T17:05:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T15:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=103375"},"modified":"2023-04-14T14:15:59","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T12:15:59","slug":"13-05-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=103375","title":{"rendered":"US Government Investigating George Washington University for Alleged Antisemitic Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>US Government Investigating George Washington University for Alleged Antisemitic Discrimination<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Dion J. Pierre<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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George Washington University professor Lara Sheehi. Photo: Twitter.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has opened an investigation into George Washington University to determine whether administrators allowed a professor to discriminate against Jewish students.<\/span><\/p>\n

In January, StandWithUs, an educational nonprofit, filed a civil rights complaint alleging<\/a> that the university would not intervene when Psychology Professor Lara Sheehi, who teaches a mandatory diversity course, invited an antisemitic speaker to address her class, launched a smear campaign against Jewish students, and later filed disciplinary charges against them in retaliation for their accusing her of antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank OCR for opening a full investigation into our complaint against GW and sending the clear message that whatever the bounds of academic freedom may be, they do not extend to professors mistreating and retaliating against students based on their Jewish and Israeli identities under the guise of political expression,\u201d StandWithUs legal department director Yael Lerman said on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Sheehi expressed contempt for Jews on the first day of class, when, in August, she asked every student to share information about their backgrounds and cultures. Replying to a student who revealed that she is Israeli, Sheehi said, \u201cIt\u2019s not your fault you were born in Israel.\u201d The students claim they made several attempts to persuade the university to correct Sheehi\u2019s behavior or arrange an alternative option for fulfilling the requirements of her course. Each time, StandWithUs alleged, administrators said nothing could be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, the complaint continued, Sheehi spread rumors that the students were \u201ccombative\u201d racists, and filed misconduct charges against them. In January, one student told The Algemeiner <\/em>that she has never learned what university policies Sheehi accused her and her classmates of violating.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 27, George Washington University said<\/a> there is no evidence to substantiate the students\u2019 claims, citing an independent investigation it paid Crowell & Morning, a law firm based in Washington DC, to conduct. On Wednesday, a spokesperson told The Algemeiner <\/em>that it \u201cwill fully participate in the department\u2019s inquiry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That same day, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) claimed victory and charged<\/a> that StandWithUs \u201cfabricated a complaint and intended to find traction because of anti-Arab racism and anti-Palestinian sentiment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Algemeiner <\/em>has asked ADC to comment on the government\u2019s investigation. This story will be updated accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roz Rothstein, StandWithUs CEO, endorsed the veracity of the students\u2019 claims on Wednesday and expressed gratitude that they will be investigated by OCR.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile professors may enjoy the right to spew wrongheaded and even hateful ideologies in some circumstances, they do not have the right to subject students to discriminatory conduct based on those views,\u201d she said. \u201cUniversity administrators have an affirmative obligation to respond adequately when students report allegations of misconduct.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

George Washington University\u2019s Jewish Law Student Association (JLSA) also commented on OCR\u2019s investigation, expressing its \u201cdisappointment\u201d with the university\u2019s \u201cdismissal\u201d of evidence supporting the students\u2019 retaliation claims. The group, citing a 2019 Executive Order on campus antisemitism, also said the university has shown \u201cdisregard for the federal standards for such complaints\u201d and wrongly refused to share the report issued by Crowell & Morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

JLSA noted that OCR, ruling<\/a> against University of Vermont in a recent civil rights complaint alleging antisemitism, has said that a \u201cuniversity must not harass, coerce, intimidate, discriminate, or otherwise retaliate against an individual because that individual asserts a right to privilege under a law enforced by OCR.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case, OCR also ruled that discriminating against Jew students because they are Zionists violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a decision legal experts described as \u201chistoric.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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US Government Investigating George Washington University for Alleged Antisemitic Discrimination Dion J. Pierre George Washington University professor Lara Sheehi. Photo: Twitter. The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has opened an investigation into George Washington University to determine whether administrators allowed a professor to discriminate against Jewish students. In January, StandWithUs, an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103375"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103770,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103375\/revisions\/103770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}