The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will investigate Ann Arbor Public Schools for discrimination over a November incident where a Tappan Middle School counselor reportedly said she does “not negotiate with terrorists” when speaking with a Muslim student.
The investigation will focus on whether the district failed to respond to harassment that is based on national origin and whether staff members retaliated against the student, according to a letter from the department dated Tuesday. The Council on American Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter filed the complaint in December.
“Calling a Palestinian Muslim student a ‘terrorist’ is a very offensive and hurtful comment that was compounded by the school board’s seeming lack of concern for the student when it was brought to their attention,” wrote Dawud Walid, executive director for the Michigan chapter, in a news release.
The Free Press has asked district officials to comment.
According to CAIR’s complaint, an eighth grade student, while waiting to see his counselor, asked another counselor whether he could go get a drink of water. The counselor said no, and when the student asked why, she replied, “I don’t negotiate with terrorists.” The student, who is Muslim and Palestinian, made it clear he took offense to the remark, but the counselor, rather than apologizing, polled others nearby to ask if they’d heard the phrase before. After the incident, the student claimed the counselor and other counselors did not interact with him over ensuing days, which CAIR claims was retaliation that further isolated the student.