The AAUP’s reversal of their stance on academic boycotts signals their movement away from academic freedom
[link removed]
CounterCurrent:
Trading Academic Freedom
The AAUP’s reversal of their stance on academic boycotts signals their movement away from academic freedom
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
[link removed]
Category: AAUP, Academic Freedom, Higher Ed;
Reading Time: ~4 minutes
------------------------------------------------------------
** Featured Article: "AAUP Trades Academic Freedom for Boycotts" ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings from the beach! This week I am vacationing with my family down the shore, so this edition of CounterCurrent was written ahead of time so that I can soak up the rays in tranquility—I hope readers of CounterCurrent have also gotten to enjoy a summer vacation before lower temperatures drive us inside.
In last week’s newsletter, we mentioned the American Association of University Professors’s (AAUP) position change on academic boycotts. Many have taken notice of the AAUP’s “Statement on Academic Boycotts ([link removed]) ” including Inside Higher Ed ([link removed]) , various other news outlets, and those of us at the National Association of Scholars (NAS)—notably, NAS Director of Science Programs J. Scott Turner on his Substack ([link removed]) page, and NAS President Peter Wood ([link removed]) .
The AAUP’s reversal of their nearly two-decade stance on academic boycotts signals their movement away from academic freedom—something the AAUP vigorously defended since its conception but has slowly drifted away from—toward academic coercion.
Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure at the AAUP spearheaded this recent reversal of the “no boycotts” stance taken back in 2005. But many are probably wondering, why is the issue of academic boycotts back to haunt academia? Well, as Peter Wood says, “it is not hard to take a guess.”
As a bit of history, during the Second Intifada (2000-2005), the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel was devised by Palestinians to pressure Israel and exported to American college and university campuses by 2005. Soon after, Israeli institutions found themselves on the receiving end of academic boycotts. The AAUP denounced the boycotts, stating that they struck “directly at the free exchange of ideas.” And the issue of academic boycotts mostly faded from public interest, with only a few flare ups over the years.
Currently, calls for boycotting Israeli institutions are back with a vengeance. Since October 7, 2023, displays of anti-Semitism have spread like wildfire on campuses around the nation. Coupled with the BDS movement ([link removed]) and its collegiate branch—i.e., Students for Justice in Palestine chapters—anti-Israel sentiment is high again in academia. This time around, however, the AAUP has dropped its former position on academic boycotts like a child vying for the cool, new toys of another. Wood aptly details ([link removed]) this shift,
The AAUP appears to be ready to abandon more than a hundred years of advocating for principled neutrality among faculty to lurch into support for academic boycotts. It is, however, a sly statement and employs finesse to advance its dubious cause. There is no mention of Israel or BDS. Rather, the AAUP employs what would be called in billiards a ‘bank shot.’ The advocates of some boycotts, we are told, ‘legitimately seek to protect and advance academic freedom and fundamental rights of colleagues and students who are living and working under circumstances that violate that freedom.’ And so, it is perfectly reasonable to burn down academic freedom in American colleges and universities to advance the cause of academic freedom elsewhere.
NAS firmly believes that academic boycotts still strangle the free exchange of ideas. Thankfully we are not alone, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has expressed its dissatisfaction ([link removed]) .
The AAUP’s decision will have consequences. It is likely that other organizations will follow suit, relaxing their opposition to academic boycotts and exposing their members to the vile stain of anti-Semitism and censorship from colleagues. We have already seen the American Anthropological Association join the party, approving a boycott ([link removed]) of Israeli institutions two months before Hamas thugs and Jew haters crossed the Israeli border.
With fingers crossed, we at NAS hope that the freedom minded members of these organizations are able to hold back the approval of such boycotts. But if they can’t, we will happily accept the dissenters with open arms.
Until next week.
Kali Jerrard
Communications Associate
National Association of Scholars
Read the Article ([link removed])
For more on the AAUP, academic freedom, and higher ed:
[link removed]
August 19, 2024
** The AAUP Discredits Itself ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph M. Knippenberg
When I began my academic career, my colleagues regarded the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) as the great proponent and xxxxxx of academic freedom. My, how times have changed.
[link removed]
August 19, 2024
** The Case for Diversity in American Higher Education ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Vedder
Indeed, I think it fortunate that the U.S. Department of Education has been largely unsuccessful in efforts to centralize and homogenize our diverse system of universities. In education, as in most endeavors, variety is the spice of life.
[link removed]
April 22, 2024
** Report: The Illusion of Institutional Neutrality ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Peter W. Wood
College presidents often come under the spotlight for their political pronouncements or lack thereof. Since college presidents must contend with difficult issues of morality, principle, and politics as leaders of higher education institutions, what is the best way to address the problems that require action?
** About the NAS
------------------------------------------------------------
The National Association of Scholars, founded in 1987, emboldens reasoned scholarship and propels civil debate. We’re the leading organization of scholars and citizens committed to higher education as the catalyst of American freedom.
============================================================
Follow NAS on social media.
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
| ** Join ([link removed])
| ** Renew ([link removed])
| ** Bookstore ([link removed])
Copyright © 2024 National Association of Scholars, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website, membership or donation forms, contact forms at events, or by signing open letters.
Our mailing address is:
National Association of Scholars
13 West 36th Street
4th Floor
New York, NY 10018-7138
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
