Campus Watch Jan. 19, 2023

StandWithUs Files Complaint Against GWU Over Prof Allegedly Targeting Jewish Israeli Students

The pro-Israel education group StandWithUs filed a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights against George Washington University (GWU) on January 11. The complaint alleged that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for failing to take action against a professor accused of targeting Jewish Israeli students in the university’s Professional Psychological Program.

The complaint centers on mandatory diversity classes held by Dr. Lara Sheehi, an assistant professor of psychology at GWU. On August 29, 2022, the first day of class, Sheehi asked each student to share their identity and she validated each of them, until one Jewish student said they were Israeli. Sheehi responded by telling the student it wasn’t their fault “they were born in Israel,” meaning that the student should be “ashamed” of her Israeli identity, the complaint stated. The complaint alleged that Sheehi retaliated against the students by disparaging them to other faculty members, leading to disciplinary proceedings against them.

University President Mark S. Wrighton said in a statement that the university will conduct “an investigation by a third party” and that the university “strongly condemns antisemitism and hatred, discrimination, and bias in all forms.”

Swastika Carved Into Desk at Harvard Westlake

Another swastika was found carved onto a desk at the Harvard-Westlake (HW) college preparatory school in Los Angeles.

School President Rick Commons mentioned the incident in a January 6 speech during a senior assembly, The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle reported. Commons said that it was the second time a swastika was found carved into a desk at the school this academic year and the fourth antisemitic incident at the school during that timeframe.

“This is an offense to all of us, not just our Jewish students and community members, for whom we feel special concern as we condemn both this disturbing incident at HW and the awful rise of antisemitism around the world,” Commons said.

Harvard Students Call on Dean to Resign Over Blocking Appointment of Former HRW Head

Nearly 800 students at Harvard University signed onto a letter calling for Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf to resign for vetoing the School’s Carr Center for Public Policy’s decision to hire former Human Rights Watch (HRW) Executive Director Kenneth Roth.

As previously reported in Campus Watch, Elmendorf reportedly blocked Roth’s hiring as a fellow due to Roth’s “anti-Israel bias.” The letter, first reported by Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), accused Elmendorf of engaging in “censorship.” “We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the administration, once again, chose to prioritize the whims of the military industrial complex and peddle an academically dishonest understanding of Israel’s human rights record,” the letter stated. It was also signed by 21 Harvard student groups.

Intifada Chants at UMich

Several pro-Palestinian students at the University of Michigan can be seen chanting “intifada revolution” in video taken on January 12.

The video shows the students chanting, “There is only solution: intifada revolution!” The Algemeiner reported that the students were protesting a speaking event on campus by Vice President Kamala Harris, as the students were accusing her of “committing genocide.” Harris was there to discuss climate change.

Aviva Klompas, a former speechwriter for the Israeli Permanent Mission to the United Nations, tweeted that the students were “calling for the murder of Jews. And not enough people think that’s freakin outrageous.”

Britain Student Union Fostered “Hostile” Climate Against Jews, Report Says

A new report released by an independent lawyer on January 12 found that Britain’s National Union of Students (NUS) fostered a “hostile” climate against Jewish students.

The lawyer, Rebecca Tuck KC, had conducted a year-long investigation interviewing 46 students and groups; she found that certain people in the NUS view antisemitism allegations as “bad faith” efforts to silence pro-Palestinian voices, which led “to an antipathy towards Jewish students in spaces such as conferences.” “This has resulted in antisemitism as well as hostility towards Jews which has not been challenged sufficiently robustly or proactively by NUS,” Tuck wrote, including “Israeli-related examples such as holding Jewish students responsible for the acts of the Israeli state or comparing Israeli policy to Nazism” and spreading “ancient antisemitic tropes.” 

NUS Director Kat Stark issued an apology to Jewish students, vowing to implement the report’s recommendations and telling Jews they are “welcome in NUS,” per the BBC.

Nazi graffiti found in Orlando high school bathroom

Graffiti depicting various Nazi symbols was found in a bathroom at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, FL on January 11.

The graffiti, which was posted to social media by a student’s parent and amplified by Stop Antisemitism, depicted the Nazi “SS” bolts as the letters “WP,” short for “white power.”

WKMG News 6 reported that Principal Jackie Ramsey wrote in an email to community members that the matter is being investigated and that the graffiti “is not representative of the values and beliefs of Dr. Phillips High School.”