JERUSALEM (JTA) — A lecturer at an Israeli university expelled an Arab student from class after she refused to take off her hijab.

The lecturer in Bar-Ilan University’s Middle Eastern Studies department last week asked the student to take off her head and face covering, and then asked her to leave the classroom when she refused, Ynet reported.

It is not known what made the lecturer, who was not named, kick the student out of his classroom. Seventeen percent of Israel’s citizens are Muslims.

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The student complained to the university via the campus adviser on Arab affairs, immediately following the incident, according to Ynet.

The lecturer received a serious reprimand by the university administration.

The lecturer apologized to the student in an email, and said that he will apologize to her in person in front of the members of the class from which she was expelled, according to Ynet. The student reportedly has accepted his apology.

Fellow lecturers have denounced his actions and called for his firing.

The lecturer will be called in the coming days to a university disciplinary committee hearing.

“The lecturer’s irregular and intolerable act completely contravenes the university’s values. The senior lecturer admitting wrongdoing and personally apologized to the student. The university’s management also apologized and seriously reprimanded the lecturer. In addition, the department’s academic staff publically came out against the incident, saying it considers what he did harmful to the university and its values,” Bar-Ilan University said in a statement sent to Ynet.

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