Palestine Legal Files Title VI Complaint Against George Washington University for Years-Long, Hostile Anti-Palestinian Environment
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CONTACT: Danya Zituni, Palestine Legal | dzituni@palestinelegal.org | (312) 547-0766
February 15, Washington, DC – Yesterday, Palestine Legal filed a federal civil rights complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) demanding an immediate investigation into the years-long, hostile environment of anti-Palestinian racism that continues unabated at George Washington University (GW).
The complaint alleges how, for years, Palestinian students and students perceived to be Palestinian have been denied access to mental health services, falsely accused of committing crimes, disproportionately investigated by campus police, put through months-long disciplinary processes for infractions that non-Palestinian students admitted to, and subjected to racist anti-Palestinian comments in class.
Palestine Legal is representing three GW students who have each been the target of anti-Palestinian discrimination and harassment by fellow students, professors, GW Hillel and/or GW administrators.
The complaint explains how GW cancelled a virtual processing space for Palestinian students after Hillel (a pro-Israel campus organization) complained. By cancelling the processing space, GW denied a Palestinian student who had been shot by an Israeli soldier while studying remotely from her home in the West Bank the chance to access much needed mental health services.
The complaint also describes how, after GW professor Dr. Lara Sheehi organized an optional brown bag lunch featuring a Hebrew University professor who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, anti-Palestinian students took over her class the following Monday, making numerous anti-Palestinian statements, including that the Palestinian speaker “would dance on [the student’s] niece’s grave”, that Palestinian civilians killed by the Israeli army are terrorists, and that Trump had made it illegal to criticize the political ideology of Zionism. Dr. Sheehi is currently being represented by the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Another student was falsely accused of vandalism by GW Hillel’s executive director and forced to answer for an infraction that a white, Jewish student already admitted to. The student, who is president of GW Students for Justice in Palestine, later learned that it was GW’s own DEI Vice Provost who called the police on SJP and initiated the complaint process. Hillel and GW have refused to apologize.
“There is simply no justification for GW’s racist, bigoted treatment of Palestinians, said Palestine Legal senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath. “Even if pro-Israel groups don’t like it and complain, the law is clear, Palestinian students are entitled to the same education and services as other students.”
Palestine Legal’s complaint asks OCR to bring GW in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by taking several remedial measures, including ensuring that Palestinian students are able to access services on an equal basis as other students; ending discriminatory investigations of Palestinians and allies who advocate for Palestinian rights; apologizing to the Palestinian students and community members that were harmed; recognizing that opposition to the political ideology of Zionism is anti-racist and integral to supporting Palestinian equality, and refusing to adopt enforce or rely on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition (IHRA) or its contemporary examples to identify or combat antisemitism.
“The guiding examples attached to the IHRA definition falsely conflate political criticism of Israel/support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism, placing anyone charged with implementing the definition in the position of engaging in anti-Palestinian bias,” writes Palestine Legal’s complaint to OCR. “Application of the IHRA definition would drive GW administrators into a morass of national-origin based distinctions in violation of Title VI.”
The discrimination, harassment, stereotyping, disparate treatment and racial profiling described above were not isolated instances, but are the product of both deep-rooted, dehumanizing bigotry against Palestinians and decades-long systematic efforts by anti-Palestinian groups and their allies to suppress speech supporting Palestinian rights on college campuses.
Since 2014, Palestine Legal has responded to over 2000 incidents of suppression of Palestine advocacy, many involving harassment and censorship attempts by university administrations and anti-Palestinian orgs aimed at intimidating Palestinians and their allies into silence and inaction.
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