Mick Hartley

Lara Sheehi, (she/hers), assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at George Washington University, is "the president-elect of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, and the chair of the Teachers' Academy of the American Psychoanalytic Association". She also "teaches decolonial, liberatory and anti-oppressive theories and approaches to clinical treatment, case conceptualization, and community consultation".

This may not, then, come as a great shock:

We, the undersigned, are mental health clinicians and educators, practitioners of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, scholars of antisemitism from several disciplines, and concerned clinicians, educators, and academics in various fields. 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. (We urge the reader to review the entire StandWithUs complaint to grasp the magnitude of the accusations.) 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.

Since this complaint appeared, several letters in defense of Dr. Sheehi have circulated, and gained wide support, claiming that concerns about her teaching and her online presence – which is rife with profanity and hateful rhetoric against Zionism and Israelis – are the result of a right-wing Zionist conspiracy. It is shocking to reflect that those signatories signed letters that did not even consider the possibility that the students’ allegations might be true, nor demand they be given respectful consideration. Would this be the case if the students were not Jewish or Israeli? Imagine the scandal that would erupt if a group of students from another background – Black students, Muslim students, or LGBT students – alleged that their professor excluded and shamed them based on their religion, ethnicity, national origin, or sexual orientation in a required course on diversity. The calls for such a professor’s resignation or removal would be swift and severe. And while these remain allegations at present, Dr. Sheehi’s tweets and online interviews regarding Israelis render the allegations quite plausible, with more than enough reason to warrant careful scrutiny. (Her deleted twitter account included statements such as the following: “Israelis are so f***ing racist,” “Zionists are unhinged,” “you can’t be a Zionist and also a feminist” “F*** Zionism, Zionists…” “F*** every person who is not yet an anti-Zionist,” and “Zionists are so far up their own a****”.)

The surprise here is that so many academics – hundreds of 'em – are signing an open letter protesting antisemitism when it generally, under the guise of anti-Zionism, seems to be the default position on American campuses. Though perhaps it's not usually as blatant as this.

Maybe psychoanalysis still retains that strong Jewish affiliation which Freud was so anxious to dispel. Or maybe it's a reflection on the decline of psychoanalysis that someone like Lara Sheehi can get to occupy such a prestigious position.