Incoming Penn Psychiatry Chair sided with an off-campus antisemitic, anti-psychiatry group attacking a Penn emeritus professor

Penn Psychiatry Chair jumped into an endemic antisemitism that is not tied to the current problems in the Middle East but threatens healthy dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Psychiatry Chair Maria Oquendo’s condemnation of my criticism of an anti-Semitic antipsychiatry UK group had long-term consequences for my family, my reputation, and my ability to earn a livelihood from speaking and writing.

The bad responses to off-campus hate mongers who use “Nazi” for shock value by President Guttman and Department of Psychiatry Maria Oquendo in 2017 and Acting President Larry Jamison in 2024 have nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East. Yet, these responses undermine any claim that the Penn community has no place for hatred and fear-mongering.

Worse, I am currently being verminized and kept from earning a living as a speaker and writer by the anti-semites who have quoted the Psychiatry chair’s comments well over 1000,000 times.

How can the Penn and international community hold difficult discussions about th…