Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images.

The President of George Washington University has apologized to a student who was forced to take down his Palestinian flag.

“I have personally apologized to the student for this unfortunate incident and assured him that the university’s actions were in no way a response to his expression of his beliefs or opinions,” said GW President Steven Knapp in a statement.

It all began on October 26, when a campus police officer told pre-med student Ramie Abounaja to remove a Palestinian flag hanging outside his 23rd Street NW window in response to complaints. Abounaja—a Palestinian-American—immediately complied.

“The officer had no idea what kind of flag this was,” Knapp said.

But a warning letter sent to Abounaja from the university reads, “As a member of the larger residential community we hope that you will be respectful of your peers and aware of your behavior. The act of an individual has a profound effect on the community…Subsequent reports naming you as a subject may result in disciplinary action taken by the university.”

Abounaja responded with his own letter to GW on November 4. “I felt like I was being singled-out, because of my heritage and the viewpoint of my speech, for something I’ve seen dozens of students, fraternities and other student groups do in my three years at GW,” he wrote. He inquired about which policy dictated the flag’s removal.

GW did not respond to his letter or to the incident until Palestine Legal, a civil rights organization, got involved.

Now President Knapp says Abounaja should never have received the warning letter, because he immediately complied with the officer. “The student was understandably alarmed and believed that the warning [letter] was based on the fact that the object he had hung from his window was a Palestinian flag. That was not the case, but, again, it was perfectly understandable that the student would interpret the letter in the way he did,” wrote Knapp.

Palestine Legal Staff Attorney Radhika Sainath says, “We’re really pleased that the university acknowledged they should not have censured Ramie, and we’re happy they’re revising their policy.”

However, Sainath is doubtful of Knapp’s claim that it was purely a bureaucratic error. “I obviously don’t buy the claim that it wasn’t about the Palestinian flag,” she says. “Clearly someone complained about the flag and then police acted.”

Because Knapp apologized to Abounaja, Palestine Legal is not currently considering legal action. “We’ll be monitoring the situation to see that GW follows through,” Sainath says.

“Ramie’s situation isn’t unique,” she says. “These incidents are happening all over the country. Ramie is courageous, but there’s a lot of fear right now for students of Middle Eastern, Palestinian, Arab, Muslim descent that if they speak out, they’ll be attacked, not be able to get a job, or be accused of supporting terrorism. There are so many more Ramies that we don’t know about.”