By: Daniel Burston | The Times of Israel | February 2, 2023
The psych professor, who has posted hateful rhetoric against Zionism and Israelis, should be suspended for now from teaching a required diversity course
The following open letter was co-authored by Daniel Burston, PhD, Cary Nelson, PhD, David Sasso, MD, MPH, and Ilene Serlin, PhD. It addresses an evolving situation regarding allegations of antisemitism in the doctoral psychology program at The George Washington University in the United States. The controversy surrounding these allegations reflects growing concerns about antisemitism in academia and beyond.
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Open letter to The George Washington University regarding allegations of antisemitism
We, the undersigned, are mental health clinicians and educators, practitioners of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and scholars of antisemitism from several disciplines. We are a diverse group, including those from the political left, right, and center; Jews and non-Jews, and those with varied views on Zionism.
We are deeply concerned about allegations regarding Dr. Lara Sheehi, the newly elected President and former Secretary of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39 of the American Psychological Association) and chair of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Teachers’ Academy. Dr. Sheehi teaches a required Diversity course for graduate students in psychology at The George Washington University. A formal complaint has been made on behalf of several of her Jewish and Israeli students describing a series of failures on her and the University’s part to treat all students equally and with respect. These allegations are alarming and, if true, expose an egregious abuse of the trust customarily placed in educators and constitute a clear violation of Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin and other characteristics in institutions receiving government support.
Read the full article HERE
To Sign the Letter, click HERE
