December 27, 2013

Dear Members of the Goucher Community:

We are writing to express our strong concern about, and outright disapproval of, the recent vote by the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions, apparently as a result of some of its members’ disapproval of certain policies of the Israeli government.

Goucher College, as we try to make clear by our words and actions daily, stands for open discussion, research, and inquiry about all issues, international or domestic, in every intellectual and political domain. The free exchange of ideas and opinions is essential to liberal arts education and to our very existence as an academic community.

We would, of course, be outraged if any such boycott were launched against all American colleges and universities by any association of alleged scholars anywhere in the world, out of disagreement with a US military engagement or other element of American foreign or domestic policy.

Hence, without taking any particular position on Middle East issues, we must invoke a strong and unequivocal stand against this outrageous and peculiarly selective move by the ASA, which seems far outside the scope of “American Studies.”

Our college will not abide by this measure, through which, in our view, the American Studies Association completely discredits itself.

On the contrary, in the great tradition of academic freedom, we will proudly continue to associate with all colleges and universities in Israel and everywhere else around the world where discussion is robust and open, and where Goucher students are welcomed for their study abroad.

Sincerely,

Sanford J. Ungar

President

Its not just Goucher. As of today, 76 universities have rejected the American Studies Association academic boycott of Israel

December 22, 2013

Universities Standing Strong For Academic Freedom and Against Bigotry (running list)

The following is a list of institutions whose presidents or chancellors have publicly rejected the academic boycott of Israel in recent days. The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 top institutions in the U.S. and Canada, has also expressed its strong opposition to the boycott, as has the American Association of University Professors, which counts more than 48,000 members.

(Updated 1:15 p.m. EST, 12/28. Current tally: 76)

American University (President Cornelius M. Kerwin)

Birmingham Southern College (President Charles C. Krulak)

Boston University (President Robert A. Brown)

Bowdoin College (President Barry Mills)

Brandeis University (President Frederick M. Lawrence)

Brooklyn College, CUNY (President Karen Gould)

Brown University (President Christina Hull Paxton)

Carnegie-Mellon University (President Subra Suresh)

Case Western Reserve University (President Barbara R. Snyder)

City University of New York (Interim Chancellor William P. Kelly)

College of Charleston (President P. George Benson)

Columbia University (President Lee C. Bollinger)

Cornell University (President David Skorton)

Dartmouth College (President Philip J. Hanlon)

Dickinson College (President Nancy Roseman)

Drexel University (President John A. Fry)

Duke University (President Richard H. Brodhead)

Emory University (President James Wagner)

Florida Atlantic University (Interim President Dennis J. Crudele)

Florida International University (President Mark B. Rosenberg)

Fordham University (President Joseph M. McShane, S.J.)

George Washington University (President Steven Knapp)

Goucher College (President Sanford J. Ungar)

Hamilton College (President Joan Hinde Stewart)

Harvard University (President Drew Gilpin Faust)

Haverford College (President Daniel Weiss)

Indiana University (President Michael McRobbie)

Johns Hopkins University (President Ronald Joel Daniels)

Kenyon College (President Sean M. Decatur)

Lehigh University (President Alice P. Gast)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (President L. Rafael Reif)

Michigan State University (President Lou Anna K. Simon)

Middlebury College (President Ron Liebowitz)

New York University (President John Sexton)

Northwestern University (President Morton O. Schapiro)

Ohio State University (President Joseph A. Alutto)

Princeton University (President Christopher L. Eisgruber)

Purdue University (President Mitch Daniels)

Ramapo College (President Peter Philip Mercer)

Rhode Island College (President Nancy Carriuolo)

Rutgers University (President Robert Barchi)

Smith College (President Kathleen McCartney)

Stanford University (President John L. Hennessy)

State University of New York (Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher)

Trinity College (President James F. Jones, Jr.)

Tufts University (President Anthony P. Monaco)

Tulane University (President Scott S. Cowen)

University of Alabama (Chancellor Robert E. Witt)

University of California System (President Janet Napolitano)

University of California, Berkeley (Chancellor Nicholas Dirks)

University of California, Irvine (Chancellor Michael V. Drake)

University of California, San Diego (Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla)

University of Chicago (President Robert J. Zimmer)

University of Cincinnati (President Santa J. Ono)

University of Connecticut (President Susan Herbst)

University of Delaware (President Patrick T. Harker)

University of Florida (President J. Bernard Machen)

University of Illinois System (President Robert A. Easter)

University of Illinois at Chicago (Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares)

University of Illinois at Springfield (Chancellor Susan J. Koch)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Chancellor Phyllis Wise)

University of Kansas (Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little)

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (President Freeman Hrabowski)

University of Maryland, College Park (President Wallace D. Loh)

University of Miami (President Donna E. Shalala)

University of Michigan (President Mary Sue Coleman)

University of Minnesota (President Eric Kaler)

University of Pennsylvania (President Amy Gutmann)

University of Pittsburgh (Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg)

University of Southern California (President C. L. Max Nikias)

University of Texas, Austin (President William C. Powers)

Washington University in St. Louis (Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton)

Wesleyan University (President Michael S. Roth)

Willamette University (President Stephen Thorsett)

Yale University (President Peter Salovey)

Yeshiva University (President Richard M. Joel)

In addition, the following institutions’ American Studies programs have withdrawn their membership in the American Studies Association (ASA) following last week’s boycott vote:

Brandeis University

Indiana University

Kenyon College

Penn State Harrisburg

Furthermore, the following institutions have flatly denied being institutional members of the ASA, though the organization lists them as such:

Brown University

Carnegie-Mellon University

Hamilton College

Northwestern University

Temple University

Trinity College

Tufts University

University of Alabama

University of Mississippi

University of Southern California

Willamette University

There is a running list here: http://avimayer.tumblr.com/post/70821835473/universities-standing-strong-for-academic-freedom-and It is updated nearly every day.

As of now, not a single university has spoken in favor of the American Studies Association boycott resolution

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT JOHN GARVEY

ON THE AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES

The American Studies Association’s recent call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions is lamentable. The Association has appointed itself as a kind of inept volunteer fire department, aiming to put out the Israeli-Palestinian conflagration by throwing gasoline on the fire. That’s not exactly right. It has decided to pour gas not on the source of the fire but on bystanders, some of whom are trying to extinguish the flames. No good can come of punishing academic institutions for the shortcomings, real and perceived, of their nations’ leaders and policies.

Rather than restricting academic freedom to advance political causes, academic organizations like the ASA should be working to foster dialogue with their foreign interlocutors, perhaps especially those they disagree with. The academy – universities, faculties, and satellite institutions – is a place where research, open discussion, and creative thought can lead to reforms and new approaches to longstanding problems. I hope the ASA’s call for a boycott produces just the opposite of its intended result – a proliferation of U.S. linkages with Israeli universities and other universities in the Middle East.