As of last year, it is estimated that more than 1 million lives were lost in the U.S. due to COVID-19 with that number possibly even being undercounted. For children, despite a relatively low overall mortality rate, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in the U.S. The above losses are measurable, but there is another loss our children may well be suffering, the impact of which will be immeasurable for years to come. Children in our educational institutions are being exposed to an ideology that promotes the worst in society – and it’s being done in the name of diversity.
An example of this has recently come to light at George Washington University (GWU) where Dr. Lara Sheehi – a clinical psychologist – teaches a mandatory class on diversity. She practices clinically from “a trans-inclusive feminist and liberation theory model” and “works on race and white supremacy, (and) decolonial struggles.”
Typically, one would expect a psychologist to provide thoughtful exchanges with students on a subject like diversity, recognizing the need not to plant seeds in young inquiring minds, entrusted to her, sanctioning violence as an option in pursuing societal objectives. But somewhere along the line, Sheehi – a Muslim who sits on the board of the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network – lost her own sense of reason. According to a recently filed complaint against her with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, Sheehi promotes an agenda that encourages the violent targeting of Israeli civilians.
The complaint noted that she brought in a class speaker who “advocated violence against Israelis – and by extension Jews,” causing at least one Jewish student to feel “deeply unsettled and unsafe.” Supposedly, teaching a course about “diversity awareness” and seeking to “sensitize future therapists to biases,” Sheehi verbally attacked a student who dared suggest “terrorist attacks” in Israel have killed civilians, including Americans. Sheehi claimed the student’s use of the term terrorist attack “invoked Islamophobia even though the student never mentioned Palestinians, Arabs, or Muslims in her comment.”
When a complaint was initially filed with the university, Sheehi retaliated against the students involved. It is still unclear whether the university has taken disciplinary action against the professor.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which now represents Sheehi, has issued a statement which, unsurprisingly, plays the victim card. It argues she has been “wrongfully accused of discrimination and antisemitism” and “that these claims would otherwise not have resulted in such an exaggerated and prejudicial response … nor … found traction in public opinion if Dr. Sheehi were not Arab and her scholarship and activism were not focused on Palestine.” The group claims the complaint is “rooted in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism.”
If the filed claim against Sheehi is accurate – which should not be difficult to prove if verified by a classroom of students who witnessed what happened – what is outrageous is that a respected university like GWU, in its eagerness to embrace the diversity ideology, provided a Muslim extremist with a platform from which to preach hatred toward Israelis.
Educational institutions like George Washington University, irresponsibly seeking to check the box of promoting progressive thought, are unable to check the common-sense box in teaching an agenda furthering America’s foundational values. That this would happen at a university named after an American icon who helped establish those values is bitterly ironic.
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