Ten UC Chancellors Denounce Academic Boycotts of Israel

Ten UC chancellors signed a statement denouncing academic boycotts of Israel at the urging of the AMCHA Initiative.

The chancellors, including UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ, were signatories to a statement that read, “We write to affirm our longstanding opposition to an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions and/or individual scholar.”

“Our commitment to continued engagement and partnership with Israeli, as well as Palestinian colleagues, colleges and universities is unwavering,” the statement read. “We believe a boycott of this sort poses a direct and serious threat to the academic freedom of our students and faculty, as well as the unfettered exchange of ideas and perspectives on our campuses, including debate and discourse on the Middle East.”

https://twitter.com/AdamMilstein/status/1073274002775441409

The statement was issued in response to a letter from the AMCHA Initiative, which had 101 signatories, calling for university presidents to sign a pledge against academic boycotts. The signatories wrote a thank-you note to the UC chancellors.

“Our 101 organizations applaud you for issuing a strong and unwavering statement condemning the implementation of an academic boycott of Israel on UC campuses, in response to our request,” the letter stated. “We especially appreciate your unequivocal declaration that an academic boycott of Israel ‘poses a direct and serious threat to the academic freedom of our students and faculty, as well the unfettered exchange of ideas and perspectives on our campuses, including debate and discourse regarding conflicts in the Middle East.’”

The letter continued, “Thank you again for your moral leadership, and for speaking up in defense of the academic rights of all students and faculty at the University of California.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Los Angeles bureau tweeted, “We commend @UofCalifornia Chancellors from all 10 campuses for their strong, proactive statement opposing academic boycotts of Israeli institutions & individual scholars. Thank you for prioritizing needs of students & pursuit of academic opportunity over politics.”

We commend @UofCalifornia Chancellors from all 10 campuses for their strong, proactive statement opposing academic boycotts of Israeli institutions & individual scholars. Thank you for prioritizing needs of students & pursuit of academic opportunity over politics @ADL_National pic.twitter.com/Etp6BoUft6

— ADL Southern California (@ADLSoCal) December 14, 2018

Max Samarov, executive director of research and campus strategy of StandWithUs, said in a statement sent to the Journal, “We applaud UC Chancellors for reaffirming their opposition to academic boycotts and their support for the free exchange of ideas.”

“Those who seek to cut Israeli academics off from the rest of the world or prevent students from studying in Israel are on the wrong side of history and engaging in bigotry,” Samarov said. “We urge all universities to increase academic exchanges and study abroad programs in Israel, in the face of this hateful campaign.”

Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal in a phone interview that it was “an important statement.”

“In a sense, it’s a shame that it even has to be made, but the idea that places that are supposed to be caretakers for freedom of speech would be in the front lines of shutting down and shutting out academic airplay with the Israeli institutions of higher learning, it’s a shameful reality,” Cooper said.

Cooper added that the condemnation needs to become a UC policy that applies “to deans, to academic advisors, to professors.”

Judea Pearl, chancellor professor of computer science at UCLA, National Academy of Sciences member and Daniel Pearl Foundation president, said in a statement sent to the Journal that while the statement is a good “first step,” the chancellors should also “address the hostile climate that BDS activities are creating in the university, which adversely affect all pro-coexistence students and faculty.”

“At the very least, the chancellors should make it public and explicit that Israeli and Zionist students are welcome at the University of California,” Pearl said.