Pro-Israel Groups Urge U-Mich to Crack Down on Academic Boycotts

Pro-Israel groups StandWithUs, The Lawfare Project and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, penned a letter to University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel and the university’s board of regents, urging the administration to crack down on academic boycotts of Israel among faculty members.

The letter, which has been obtained by the Journal, began by acknowledging the university’s condemnation of anti-Israel boycotts and disciplining Professor John Cheney-Lippold for refusing to write a letter of recommendation for a student to study abroad in Israel. However, the groups were discouraged that the university will not commit to a thorough investigation of such academic boycotts.

“It seems highly likely that other students have been affected by the political positions espoused––and adopted–– by these individuals in a way that would be discriminatory under your now-enumerated policy,” the letter states.

Other tactics used in academic boycotts of Israel include rejecting academic events that are in anyway affiliated with Israel, programs at Israeli institutions and speeches given by Israeli officials.

“We are concerned that faculty may advance the academic boycott at their students’ expense without any accountability or oversight,” the letter states. “For example, a student may spend countless hours under faculty supervision researching and drafting a scholarly paper with a goal of publication, only to have the faculty member refuse to review the final product because the student chooses to publish the article in a journal based at or in collaboration with an Israeli university.”

The letter noted that there was recently a town hall on campus that was sponsored by university academic departments and promoted the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

“In light of this report, we are deeply concerned that these faculty may take further steps in support of BDS that discriminate against and disadvantage pro-Israel and Jewish students,” the letter stated. “Without a broad institutional commitment to combating the effects of BDS activism by professors and academics at the University of Michigan, students will be left with little recourse.”

The letter concluded, “It is imperative that your administration clarify its current policy to reflect zero-tolerance for faculty discrimination and efforts to limit student educational opportunities––whether the conduct is inspired or advanced by BDS or by any other discriminatory movement or government. In particular, it is vital that university policy spell out the potential ramifications for faculty who interfere with a student’s academic privileges and/or opportunities based on that faculty member’s personal political views–– and not based on the student’s academic merit.”