Lara Sheehi, the professor at the center of a discrimination complaint students filed against the university, has a long history of making anti-Semitic statements in lectures, published writings, interviews, and social media posts. As an assistant professor in the school’s Professional Psychology Program, she refuses to acknowledge the existence of the state of Israel and teaches her Jewish students that their mere presence can inflict “violence.”
FreeBeacon (h/t Marvin W) Sheehi also accuses all Zionists of having a “settler psychosis” from which they must be “liberated” in order to interact with “indigenous” people.
“You’re a settler interacting with indigenous people, there’s violence embedded in that no matter what, no matter how good you are,” Sheehi said last year in a podcast interview. “Settlers, liberate yourself from your ideology.” Sheehi did not respond to a request for comment. George Washington University referred the Washington Free Beacon to its statement last week condemning anti-Semitism and affirming academic freedom.
Jewish students reported Sheehi for discriminating against and repeatedly harassing them as part of a required diversity course she taught last fall, according to a complaint filed last week with the Department of Education.
“It’s not your fault you were born in Israel,” she reportedly told one student on the first day of class. Sheehi has declared all Israelis “fucking racist” and said she wants to “destroy Zionism” on Twitter. She has deleted her account since the Title VI complaint was filed.
Roz Rothstein, cofounder and CEO of Stand With Us, which filed the complaint, told the Washington Free Beacon that Sheehi’s “personal politics” should not “cross the line into discriminatory conduct targeting students based on their identities.”
Rothstein says college administrators “too often” fail to “recognize the clear difference between a professor expressing her personal political views, which academic freedom does protect, and identity-based discriminatory and retaliatory conduct, which it absolutely does not.”
Sheehi is president-elect of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association.
She and her husband, Stephen Sheehi, who chairs the Middle East Studies department at the College of William & Mary, are both members of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. They engage as professors in “explicitly political” work, which they have called “guerilla scholarship.” Sheehi even boasted in an interview last year that their adversarial approach has cost them speaking engagements and jobs.
In 2014, Stephen Sheehi joined a group of scholars from around the world in signing a statement defending Hamas militants for firing rockets at Israeli civilians. He accused Israel of carrying out “collective punishment” after soldiers swept through the Gaza Strip in search of three Israeli teenage boys who were kidnapped and later murdered by Hamas.
Stephen Sheehi is anactivistwithin theBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)movement and was involved in an effort to encourage theModern Language Association (MLA)to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
In July of 2014, Sheehi signed a statement excusing Hamas war crimes and demonizing Israel. Sheehi has also expressed support for disgraced anti-Israel Professor Steven Salaita.
Sheehi is the Sultan Qaboos bin Said Chair of Middle East Studies and Professor of Arabic Studies at The College of William and Mary (WM).
In July of 2014, Sheehi signed “An International Scholars’ Statement on Gaza” that excused Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, claiming they were a “direct response” to the Israelis “terrifying the entire population of the West Bank.”
The statement accused Israel of “collective punishment” for sweeping the Palestinian controlled territory for suspects and victims following the June 12, 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli high-schoolers on their way home from school by Hamas. The captors murdered the abducted boys, whose bodies were found buried in Palestinian-controlled territory on June 30, 2014.
Daniel Less says
The real mental illness today in the 21 st Century is left wing ”liberals” ideas, progressive feminists, and other assorted dimwits preaching the mantra of diversity, and that men can menstruate and can get pregnant. These people do not fight for the poor and downtrodden, they fight against reality, and nothing else! They belong in a mental institution.
Aaaa says
I get the feeling they’re two narcissists trying to “fix” the “broken” world
Tim h says
So how come she not living in a nice hot Muslim country all dressed in black that make her at home 🤔
Ramez Fekry says
Just another Fakestinian ‘Christian!’
There’s no difference between Fakestinian Moslems and Christians when it comes to Jew hatred.
Therefore, the only ‘good’ Fakestinian is a dead one!
Martelson says
I miss the days when this clearly far over the line just would not be able to function within an American university. This ‘hag’ leaves no doubt as to just what she is, and what she does. I just – the husband by her – has body language that is equally as creepy.
BareNakedIslam says
Anti-Semitism is rampant today on college campuses and Muslims are a big part of the reason why.
Martelson says
Indeed. I know as I was around these places, and watched them transform to match the actual anti-semitism that are the actual condition of both the leftists and Muslims. Another condition was everyone else letting it happen.
It is so bad that this presents yet another reason for questioning the amount of tax funding given them.
BareNakedIslam says
While I was in college, I didn’t even realize I was in a leftist bastion of bad ideas. But I was a Japanese major so I ignored all the political stuff and anti-Vietnam war protests on campus. It wasn’t until my senior year and I watched the leftists (though I didn’t even have a name for them back then) burn down the ROTC building on campus that I started to understand how bad they really were. There were a lot of Jewish students on campus and anti-Semitism was never an issue.
Martelson says
The real onrush towards this began in the 1980’s. In the early part of the decade if you had ‘eyes’ you could see the ones with it, but even still – some sense of limits. The 1990’s was the time when this crowd began to fill the teaching positions, and it was able to push for much further expression, and now – to the clear effort to silent and remove all who lack the ‘faith’ of the far left.
It really does matter to stand first and never to ‘get along’ with these types. It’s the old saying – give an inch and they take a mile’… (It’s why I speak as I do. These types are never ‘our friend’.)
BareNakedIslam says
Totally agree. They dominate the education system which is the main problem. But that’s our fault because most of us have never wanted to become teachers.
Martelson says
True. While I was attending community college (as a non-traditional student), I was working on two AA degrees; history and fine art. My program adviser strongly encouraged me to road the road for teaching Art History at the college level. Oh, I could do it, but who wants to go into an field now filled with such clowns and idiots like today’s college? No thanks. But yes – me and others like me would be an answer to the rot that defines today college.
But, not at my cost and at my all-too-fast being removed for not having a call for hate-thought or whatever. Pity – I had twice fellow students ask why I wasn’t teaching the course? Hope those courses lectures hadn’t heard the talk.
BareNakedIslam says
Yeah, I hear ya. College would be a much better place with diversity of opinions, not just diversity of race.
Martelson says
Well – actually I would suggest further thought about that word usage of diversity. Anyone honest and willing to look at the operation must come to this – the diversity never has much difference from what is the actual preferred – fill in the blank. It was an hard lesson for me to learn (and accept) about quite a few in my personal life. Diversity to them is merely to fool as they assume control. You will have little ‘diversity’ if you give against the narrative – as we can see in action these days. Do you know of James Lindsay? Look him up at you-tube. Well worth listening to understand this ‘post-modern’ leftist collective. I can’t think of one thing I would give any question to in his talks.
BareNakedIslam says
I will.
xenonman says
Can’t they revoke the dog’s tenure?
Leonard Gearhardt says
I don’t think they would last long living in the “Palestinian” areas. Perhaps they can take a sabbatical year together and do just that.
Kathleen Woods says
How much more crap to we have to hear how rotten Israel is from our own dirty & bought for & lying gov trying to take us all down ? Please God save us from this horror !