BY ANTHONY ALESSANDRINI The AAUP’s new “Statement on Academic Boycotts,” which reverses its prior opposition to academic boycotts, is a major declaration. Stating clearly that boycotts “can be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education,” it confirms there are instances in which upholding academic freedom may…
BY STEVEN LUBET Steven Lubet is Williams Memorial Professor and Director of the Bartlit Center for Trial Advocacy at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. A version of this post appeared at The Faculty Lounge on October 28. It was deeply objectionable when Zoom and other networking platforms blocked Leila Khaled’s webinars at San Francisco…
BY JOHN K. WILSON When Ilana Feldman was appointed interim dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University (GWU) last month, it was an obvious choice. Feldman is a highly respected scholar who was already serving as vice-dean with no complaints about her work. But quickly this became what is probably…
BY HANK REICHMAN On Thursday, May 28, a website called Israel-Academia-Monitor published an “editorial note” entitled “AAUP Losing Credibility over the Palestinian-Israeli Dispute.” It begins: The prestigious academic organization, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), is losing credibility. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape the standards and procedures of higher…
BY HANK REICHMAN In two remarkable statements issued recently scholars from more than thirty countries, including Germany, Israel and the U.S., have spoken out against efforts by the German government to restrict the academic freedom and free speech rights of artists and scholars suspected of supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian…
BY HANK REICHMAN Last week I posted a piece on this blog reporting on a legal challenge filed by the Arkansas Times against a state law requiring government contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel. Now a similar law is being challenged in Texas by a children’s speech pathologist who has worked for the last…
BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday the company that owns and publishes the Arkansas Times filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of a state law requiring government contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel or reduce their fees by at least 20 percent. The Times initiated the suit after the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College,…
BY HANK REICHMAN In a victory for academic freedom, U.S. student Lara Alqasem, who is of Palestinian descent, will be allowed to enter Israel to study at Hebrew University after the country’s Supreme Court today accepted her appeal of the decision to prevent her entry. Alqasem, whom the government claimed was a BDS activist based…
BY HANK REICHMAN On Monday, the Association of University Heads of Israel sent a strongly-worded letter to Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan warning of damage caused to Israel by the ministry’s decision to bar American student Lara Alqasem from entering the country, the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. The letter came a day after…
BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday, John Wilson posted a comment on my post “Standing with Professional Ethics” that merits a longer response than is appropriate for a simple comment. I also want to use this opportunity to reply to another response to my post, which came from an AAUP leader via private email, and to make…