Middle East studies in the News

Academic Fallout From Middle East [on UCU's vote to boycott Israel; incl. reaction by MESA]

by Scott Jaschik
Inside Higher Education
May 31, 2007

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/31/mideast

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/3510

Delegates at the annual meeting of Britain's main faculty union on Wednesday voted to circulate to members and divisions a resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel. While the vote was accompanied by statements from union leaders encouraging the delegates to drop the boycott issue, the pro-boycott could hurt relations between professors' groups in Britain and the United States.

Previous votes by British faculty unions have led American academic groups to take the rare step of rebuking professorial colleagues in another democratic country. Many American faculty unions and scholarly groups, while holding a range of views on Israel and the Middle East, have strongly argued against academic boycotts of any type, saying that they impede the free flow of ideas and that they end up punishing scholars, including the many Israeli professors who are at the forefront of the movement for Palestinian rights.

[Ed.: To continue reading this article, please follow the link above.]

Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

receive the latest by email: subscribe to campus watch's free mailing list