The Alliance for Academic Freedom, of which I am a member, comprises more than 200 liberal and progressive scholars committed to upholding academic freedom and free speech in campus debates surrounding Israel and Palestine, supportive of both peoples’ national aspirations, and opposed to Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Here is AAF's recent statement on the CUNY Law faculty's recent BDS resolution:
A CRITIQUE OF THE CUNY LAW SCHOOL’S ANTI-ZIONIST ACTION
On May 12, 2022, the faculty of the law school at the City University of New York voted unanimously to endorse a controversial and politically charged BDS resolution passed last December by the school’s student government association. The Alliance for Academic Freedom calls on the law school faculty to repeal its endorsement, which threatens academic freedom on two levels.
In the first place, the resolution that the faculty have endorsed explicitly violates the basic tenets of academic freedom by its very content. Specifically, it calls on CUNY to end study-abroad programs and other collaborations with Israeli universities; more generally, it urges compliance with existing BDS guidelines, which bar academic and intellectual exchanges with Israel. The content of the resolution itself is therefore a call to discard the right of students and faculty to pursue their research and teaching without political restrictions.
In addition, the law school’s action violates principles of academic freedom by taking a collective stand on a contested political issue in a way that is anything but benign or anodyne. Although individual faculty members are free to take any political positions they wish, when the faculty act on behalf of an administrative unit to collectively issue a statement or endorsement, they do so on behalf of the institution—especially when they do so in the name of an entire division of the university. Moreover, a school of law like CUNY’s has greater prestige and authority than a department within a school or college and thus has more likelihood of being perceived as speaking for the overall institution.
It is particularly irresponsible for law school faculty to endorse the radical polemical claim that Israel is engaged in genocide. One would have expected law professors to apply the legal definition of genocide, rather than embrace its use as an irresponsible political accusation.
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