Itongadol.- More than 90 American universities have released statements rejecting the American Studies Association\’s (ASA) decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions so far, and several have cut ties with the organization in protest.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations expressed appreciation to university presidents and chancellors who "stood up against this discriminatory and unjustified measure and rejected the ASA boycott of Israel."
"This is now a clarion call to reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and assure that American campuses are not subverted for extremist political ends," said Robert G. Sugarman, the Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the organization.
The 5,000-member American Studies Association (ASA) announced last month that it had endorsed and would participate in a boycott of Israeli universities and academic institutions. The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) decided to join the boycott as well shortly thereafter.
The Association for Asian American Studies was the first to join the boycott in April 2013.
Among the more noteworthy universities that rejected the boycott were Columbia, Princeton, New York University, Yale and Dartmouth College.
"To be sure, it is entirely appropriate for our campuses to provide a forum for discussion and debate about the policies of any government, including our own. But the ASA\’s vote runs counter to this essential academic and political freedom and, taken to its logical conclusion, would necessarily result in boycotts of fellow scholars and peer institutions from many nations around the world," wrote Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger, who wrote a letter in opposition of academic boycotts of Israel in 2007, that was signed by 400 other college and university presidents.
Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber dubbed the boycott "misguided," adding that singling Israel out is "indefensible."
But while Eisgruber notes that his "personal support for scholarly engagement with Israel is enthusiastic and unequivocal," he said he does not intend to denounce the ASA or cut Princeton\’s institutional ties with the organization.
"My hope is that the ASA’s more thoughtful and reasonable members will eventually bring the organization to its senses–here, too, engagement may be better than a boycott," he wrote.
"This boycott is at heart a disavowal of the free exchange of ideas and the free association of scholars that undergird academic freedom; as such, it is antithetical to the values and tenets of institutions of advanced learning," NYU President John Sexton wrote.
Brandeis University, Indiana University, Kenyon College and Penn State Harrisburg withdrew their membership in the ASA in protest of the decision to support the boycott.
Several academic institutes denied being institutional members of the ASA, including 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 and Willamette University.
The full list of universities that have issued a statement rejecting the boycott appears below.
American University (President Cornelius M. Kerwin)
Amherst College (President Carolyn A. Martin)
Barnard College (President Debora Spar)
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)
Colgate University (President Jeffrey Herbst)
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.)
Franklin & Marshall College (President Daniel R. Porterfield)
George Washington University (President Steven Knapp)
Georgetown University (President John J. DeGioia)
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)
Lafayette College (President Alison Byerly)
Lehigh University (President Alice P. Gast)
Loyola University Maryland (President Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J.)
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)
Pennsylvania State University (President Rodney Erickson)
Princeton University (President Christopher L. Eisgruber)
Purdue University (President Mitch Daniels)
Ramapo College (President Peter Philip Mercer)
Rhode Island College (President Nancy Carriuolo)
Rider University (President Mordechai Rozanski)
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)
Swarthmore College (President Rebecca Chopp)
Touro College and University System (Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka)
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, Davis (Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi)
University of California, Irvine (Chancellor Michael V. Drake)
University of California, San Diego (Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla)
University of California, San Francisco (Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann)
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 La Verne (President Devorah Lieberman)
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 Rochester (President Joel Seligman)
University of Southern California (President C. L. Max Nikias)
University of Texas, Austin (President William C. Powers)
University of Vermont (President Tom Sullivan)
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)