More Than 30 Student Groups Announce Boycott of NYU Tel Aviv

More than 30 student groups are boycotting New York University’s (NYU) study abroad program in Tel Aviv, stating that they don’t want to be “complicit in the state of Israel’s targeted discrimination against activists and Palestinian and Muslim students.”

The groups, which included Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Young Democratic Socialists of America and Jewish Voice for Peace, wrote in a letter published on Medium that it wasn’t right for Israel to blacklist 20 organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement from entering the country.

“The University, as an adoptee of AAUP [American Association of University Professors] principles of academic freedom, has the duty to uphold these standards throughout the Global Network University (GNU) and be proactive in addressing any violations of these principles,” the student groups wrote. “NYU must upgrade its commitment to ensure equal access to GNU sites and to appeal decisions of entry within the Global Network. Until then, the members of our clubs will not study away and/or visit NYU Tel Aviv.”

The groups added that NYU’s student government passed a resolution during the spring that expressed “concern over the lack of global mobility” regarding Israel’s BDS blacklist; the groups were also concerned about the University of Michigan disciplining Professor John Cheney-Lippold over his refusal to write a letter of recommendation for a student to study abroad in Israel.

“This sets a dangerous precedent, in which departments have the ability to unjustly penalize faculty simply for their support of Palestinian human rights,” the groups wrote. “As a department, we stand within solidarity with Cheney-Lippold and any faculty and students that support the Israeli academic boycott for Palestinian human rights.”

However, NYU spokesman John Beckman told NYU Local that the university is unequivocally opposed to an academic boycott of Israel.

“While we disagree with Israel’s policy about BDS supporters for precisely the same reasons of academic freedom and scholarly mobility that cause us to oppose academic boycotts, it is worth noting that no NYU student has been prevented from going to Israel, and a case involving a student from a different school was reversed in court,” Beckman said in a statement.

Evan Bernstein, the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) director of the New York-New Jersey region, told the Journal in an email statement, “This action is another indication that university-endorsed study abroad in Israel is the newest tactic in the effort to delegitimize and demonize Israel.  We should be encouraging all students to explore and investigate for themselves. This effort to shut down opportunities for New York University students to conduct academic exploration in Israel is counter to all that higher education stands for.”

Several of the same groups signing the aforementioned letter also expressed support for the BDS movement in April, calling for the university to divest from all companies that conduct business with Israel and to boycott all pro-Israel clubs on campus.

In April 2016, NYU President Andrew Hamilton stated that the university would not engage in any sort of boycott of Israel.

“A boycott of Israeli academics and institutions is contrary to our core principles of academic freedom, antithetical to the free exchange of ideas, and at odds with the University’s position on this matter, as well as the position of GSOC’s [Graduate Student Organizing Committee] parent union,” Hamilton said in a statement. “NYU will not be closing its academic program in Tel Aviv, and divestment from Israeli-related investments is not under consideration. And to be clear: whatever ‘pledges’ union members may or may not have taken does not free them from their responsibilities as employees of NYU, which rejects this boycott.”