Who is Lara Sheehi? Woke GWU prof accused of antisemitic harassment against Israeli and Jewish students
WASHINGTON, DC: George Washington University officials have begun an antisemitism probe against a psychology professor who made alleged remarks towards Israeli and Jewish students. 'Stand With Us,' the Israel advocacy group first initiated the investigation based on professor Lara Sheehi's alleged actions. The group has filed a complaint with the US Department of Education.
Complaints against Sheehi were based on her derogatory remarks towards individuals of the Jewish community according to the student of the Professional Psychology Program's filing of the complaint. "It's not your fault you were born in Israel," she said in a mandatory "diversity" course. She added that the Jewish students' presence is "violent."
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Who is Lara Sheehi?
Lara Sheehi is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at George Washington University. According to her profile, she did her studies at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, GWU, and the American University of Beirut. The professor is 'The Psychoanalysis' and the Arab World Lab's founding faculty director.
President-elect of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (APA Division 39), her areas of teaching include clinical treatment, liberatory, decolonial, theories of anti-oppressiveness community consultation, case conceptualization, and clinical. She is also the chair of the Teachers' Academy of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
Sheehi's antisemitic remarks
A guest speaker was allegedly invited by the professor who particularly targeted Israeli and Jewish individuals. Sheehi allegedly claimed that "Zionism in and of itself indicates that Jewish folks are different" while explaining that "anti-Zionism is not antisemitism" when she remarked that all Zion believers will suffer more "settler psychosis," according to Daily Mail.
With the incident and the remarks under question, the professor was also accused of spreading rumors against Jewish students saying the speaker was referred to as a "terrorist," trying to suggest that the students were Islamophobic, as per the Daily Mail report. Students who complained began being mistreated since the issue where the complainants had to face disciplinary actions in their academics or had to acknowledge their accused wrongdoing.
Sheehi is being "wrongfully targeted by [a] far-right Israeli group," the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee opined and announced it will represent the professor as they claim the professor "would otherwise not have resulted in such an exaggerated and prejudicial response" if she "were not Arab and her scholarship and activism were not focused on Palestine."
George Washington University stated that they "strongly condemn antisemitism and hatred, discrimination, and bias in all forms" and has explained in a statement that a third-party investigation will be conducted for a thorough examination.