The academic boycott of Israel has generated a lot of attention and noise in the past few weeks, even though it has not generated much actual boycotting.
No university in the U.S. is considering a boycott, as far as I know, and in many ways ties are expanding. The American Studies Association and a handful of much smaller faculty professional organizations have adopted the boycott, but even ASA
had to back down from its key provision excluding most Israeli academics from its annual meeting.
There
have been, and undoubtedly
will be more, attempts to get larger faculty organizations to adopt the boycott, but so far that has not happened. There are complaints from some Israelis also of an
undeclared boycott of them personally in the humanities, with some American professors refusing to interact.
But beyond the actual results, there is no doubt that the academic boycott movement is a malicious attack not just on Israel, but also on our entire academic system. It is led by some of the
most outrageous campus characters, the rhetoric often is abusive, and the environment
hostile and threatening.
It is no wonder that
over 250 university presidents, as well as major academic groups like the American Association of University Professors, condemned the ASA academic boycott.
Over 100 members of Congress also signed a letter condemning the ASA.
Soon we may be able to add a formal House Resolution to the list.
