The American Association of University Professors’ acronym is AAUP. But its latest action could lead some to read “AAUP” as the “Anti-Israel Association of University Professors.”
Why? Last month, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran a story titled, “Why the AAUP Changed Its Stance on Academic Boycotts,” describing why the AAUP “announced it would no longer categorically oppose academic boycotts, in which faculty members decline to work with other scholars or academic institutions.” Under the new AAUP policy, such boycotts “can [now] be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education.” In a (failed) attempt to cover itself, the AAUP adds that such boycotts “should target only institutions of higher education that themselves violate academic freedom or the fundamental rights upon which academic freedom depends.”
What does this mean? According to its former president, Cary Nelson, it means that the AAUP has officially greenlighted boycotts of Israeli universities. This new “right” gifted to member universities by the AAUP will, writes Nelson, “include the right to refuse to write letters of recommendation for highly qualified students who wish to study at Israeli universities, an action that will be defended as only boycotting Israeli institutions. Not that any affected student will accept the distinction.” This explains the title of Nelson’s article: “The AAUP Abandons Academic Freedom.”
What will be the result of this policy change? Nelson “predict[s] that hundreds of those and other individual micro-boycotts of Jewish and Israeli students and faculty will be initiated during the 2024-25 academic year. . . . There will also be dedicated group efforts to criminalize collaborative research projects between faculty in America and Israel, projects that often entail institutional endorsement and support.” […]
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