US university investigated for refusing to provide trauma services to Palestinians

George Washington University (GW), one of the largest academic institutions in the US capital, is being investigated by the DC Office of Human Rights for refusing trauma services to Palestinians.

This follows around a year of complaints from staff and students who have been refused services through the university's Office of Advocacy and Support that are offered to people who experience trauma due to political events.

Examples include police brutality against African Americans and other marginalised communities, hate crimes against Asians and - in the case of Palestinians last year - the Israeli assault on Gaza and the West Bank.

"They are legally and not just morally bound to offer the same services to Palestinians," Benjamin Douglas, a Washington, DC-based attorney and co-counsel for Palestine Legal, told The New Arab.

"I will emphasize that DC law does not endorse this kind of disparate treatment. They can’t discriminate based on ethnicity or religion," he said.

The issue began in May last year when Israeli expulsions of Palestinians from their homes and subsequent military assaults led OAS to reach out to Palestinians at GW.

Knowing this could be controversial, they reached out to Palestinian groups individually. Over the next couple of weeks, OAS concluded that their efforts were not sufficient.

On 2 June, OAS advertised a “virtual processing space” on Instagram for GW community members in the Palestinian diaspora who needed healing, noting that it was open to all communities.

Within hours, OAS Assistant Director Tamara Washington received a phone call from GW Hillel executive director Adena Kirstein, who complained about OAS’s post supporting Palestinian human rights, saying it was harmful to Jewish students.

Under pressure, following numerous phone calls complaining about their outreach to Palestinians on human rights,  OAS deleted the post. It later issued an apology for offering counseling services to Palestinians.

As of now, OAS appears to be non-functional, thereby serving no one. Douglas sees this as an unfortunate outcome their refusal to serve Palestinians.

In Palestine Legal's letter last year to GW, written on behalf of OAS staff member Nada Elbasha, it issued a number of requests to rectify the harm done to Palestinian students.

These included issuing an apology for denying services to Palestinians; mandated training for GW's administration in anti-Palestinian harassment; allowing OAS to continue operations; recognising Arab Heritage Month, like it does other identity months; and holding a Palestinian solidarity event, as it does for other communities.

The New Arab reached out to George Washington University and to the DC Office of Human Rights for comment on Tuesday, but neither had responded by Thursday.