Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images.

A George Washington University student is alleging discrimination after campus police asked him to remove a Palestinian flag from his window facing 23rd Street.

Pre-med student Ramie Abounaja—a Palestinian-American—received a visit from a campus officer on October 26, who told him that the department had gotten complaints about the flag.

“I immediately removed the flag, as instructed. The officer came back a few minutes later and said that his boss required that he make a report. I felt victimized and criminalized in front of my roommates,” he said in a letter to the university.

A week later, Abounaja received a letter from the university, which served “as a warning that this behavior is a violation of the ‘Code of Student Conduct and/or the Residential Community Conduct Guidelines.” He responded with the aforementioned letter, which questioned which policy dictated the flag come down.

GW did not respond to his letter or to the incident until Palestine Legal, a civil rights organization, interceded with its own letter Monday, prompting a statement from the university.

“We encourage students to share their rich diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and views with their peers. GW has not banned any flags from its campus; however, the university’s Residential Community Conduct Guidelines prohibit the hanging of any object outside of a residence hall window,” the statement said in part.

However, Radhika Sainath, a staff attorney with Palestine Legal, is dubious. “We don’t buy what they’re saying,” she says. “Anyone who walks around campus can see flags and banners hanging outside the windows. If there is a policy, it’s being discriminatorily enforced.”

Sainath also takes issue with the university’s treatment of Abounaja. “He tried to get answers for five weeks, and GW never responded to him directly or explained why it had to be a police issue,” she says, pointing to the increase in anti-Muslim sentiment that dominates political discourse. “We think this incident is part of a larger pattern of the free speech about Palestine and Palestinian pride being silenced.”

GW declined comment beyond the statement.

“Many George Washington University students decorate windows with flags of home states or nations. Palestinian-American student Ramie Abounaja received disciplinary action for what his peers have and continue to do without consequence,” wrote GW’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine in a release. They have created an online petition to demand the university apologize to Abounaja.

This year has seen student protest at Howard and Georgetown, resulting in some cases in change.