A group of professors, researchers and other academics from around the world published an open letter this week condemning the Israeli government’s attempts to stifle debate and academic freedom at universities all over the planet.The following letter was signed by prominent academics on Tuesday March 4th and published online:
Whether one is for or against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a means to change the current situation in Palestine-Israel, it is important to recognize that boycotts are internationally affirmed and constitutionally protected forms of political expression. As non-violent instruments to effect political change, boycotts cannot be outlawed without trampling on a constitutionally protected right to political speech. Those who support boycotts ought not to become subject to retaliation, surveillance or censorship when they choose to express their political viewpoint, no matter how offensive it may be to those who disagree.
We are now witnessing accelerating efforts to curtail speech, to exercise censorship, and to carry out retaliatory action against individuals on the basis of their political views or associations, notably support for BDS. We ask cultural and educational institutions to have the courage and the principle to stand for, and safeguard, the very principles of free expression and the free exchange of ideas that make those institutions possible. This means refusing to accede to bullying, intimidation, and threats aimed at silencing speakers because of their actual or perceived political views. It also means refusing to impose a political litmus test on speakers and artists when they are invited to speak or show their work. We ask that educational and cultural institutions recommit themselves to upholding principles of open debate, and to remain venues for staging expressions of an array of views, including controversial ones. Only by refusing to become vehicles for censorship and slander, and rejecting blacklisting, intimidation, and discrimination against certain viewpoints, can these institutions live up to their purpose as centers of learning and culture.
Judith Butler
Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said Professor in Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University
Etienne Balibar
Emeritus Professor, Paris-Nanterre
Natalie Zemon Davis
Professor of History
Deborah Eisenberg
Writer
Eve Ensler
Playwright/Activist
Samera Esmeir
Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Khaled Fahmy
Professor, The American University in Cairo
Katherine Franke
Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Paul Gilroy
London
Naomi Klein
Author and Journalist
Jacqueline Rose
Professor of English, Queen Mary University of London
Mariam C Said
Individual
Joan W Scott
Institute for Advanced Study
Professor Lynne Segal
University of London
Wallace Shawn
Writer
Lila Abu-Lughod
Columbia University
Sara Ahmed
Goldsmiths, University of London
Udi Aloni
Filmmaker and writer
Richard Appelbaum
MacArthur Foundation Chair, Global & International Studies, UCSB
Elsa Auerbach
Professor Emerita, UMass Boston
Lisa Baraitser
Birkbeck, University of London
Yael Bartana
Artist
Rosalyn Baxandall
SUNY Old Westbury Distinguished Prof Emeritus
Joel Beinin
Donald J McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford Univerrsity
Emanuela Bianchi
New York University
Omri Boehm
New School for Social Research, Assistant Professor
John Borneman
Princeton University
Nicolas Bousserez
Research Associate, University of Colorado at Boulder
Sarah Bracke
Harvard Divinity School
Naomi Braine
Brooklyn College
Laurie A. Brand
University of Southern California
Renate Bridenthal
Professor, retired from CUNY
Wendy Brown
UC Berkeley
Shale Brownstein
Retired psychiatrist HHC
Susan Buck-Morss
Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center
Eduardo Cadava
Princeton University
Margaret Cerullo
Hampshire College
Sally Charnow
Hofstra University, Professor of History
Alexandra Chasin
New School for Social Research
Eric Cheyfitz
Professor, Cornell University
Kandice Chuh
Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center
Ilene Cohen
Editor
Elliott Colla
Georgetown University
Christopher Connery
Professor, University of California Santa Cruz
Stuart Davis
Cornell University
Walt Davis
Retired minister/professor
Ashley Dawson
Professor, English Department, CUNY
Colin Dayan
Vanderbilt University
Brett de Bary
Professor, Asian Studies and Comparative Literature, Cornell University
Beshara Doumani
Professor of History, Brown University
Lisa Duggan
Professor, New York University
Nancy du Plessis
Artist
David Eng
University of Pennsylvania
Darlene Evans
Cornell University
Sara Farris
Assistant Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
Leila Farsakh
Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
Pnina Feiler
Physicians for Human Rights
Kathy E. Ferguson
Professor, Departments of Political Science and Women’s Studies, University of Hawai’i
Elle Flanders
Filmmaker
Jeff Fort
University of California, Davis
Cynthia Franklin
Professor of English, University of Hawaii
Carla Freccero
Professor
Jamie Fuller
Artist
Jennifer Gaboury
Hunter College, CUNY
Ellen Gruber Garvey
Ph.D.
Michael Gilsenan
Prof. Michael Gilsenan
Neve Gordon
Samira Haj
Professor
Lisa Hajjar
Professor of Sociology, University of CA-Santa Barbara
J. Halberstam
Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, USC
Sondra Hale
Research Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
Abdellah Hammoudi
Professor , Princeton University
Beth Harris
Associate Professor, Ithaca College
Professor Emerita, Princeton University
Salah D. Hassan
Associate Professor, MSU
Gail Hershatter
University of California, Santa Cruz
Neil Hertz
Johns Hopkins University
Marianne Hirsch
Professor, Columbia University
Andrew Hsiao
Verso Books
Elizabeth Ingenthron
Graduate Theological Union
Margo Jefferson
Writer
Joseph Jeon
Pomona College
Jeanette Jouili
College of Charleston
Moon-Kie Jung
University of Illinois
Ann Jungman
Writer
Amy Kaplan
University of Pennsylvania
Carolyn L. Karcher
Professor Emerita, Temple University
Suvir Kaul
A M Rosenthal Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Kendall
Associate Professor, New School
Arang Keshavarzian
Faculty member, New York University
Dr. Gail Lewis
Reader in Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck College
Risa Lieberwitz
Professor, Cornell University
Audrea Lim
Verso Books
David Lloyd
University of California, Riverside
Zachary Lockman
New York University
Ania Loomba
Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Miriam R. Lowi
Professor, The College of New Jersey
Sandra R Mackie
Reverend
Saba Mahmood
UC Berkeley, Associate Professor
Harriet Malinowitz
Professor of English, Long Island University, Brooklyn
Curtis Marez
Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego
Mario Martone
Cornell University
Barry Maxwell
Senior Lecturer, Cornell University
Rela Mazali
Author & Independent Scholar
Jeffrey Menlick
University of Massachusetts Boston
Brinkley Messick
Columbia University
Jennifer Miller
Circus Amok, Director
University of Southern California
Susette Min
University of California, Davis
Chandra Talpade Mohanty
Syracuse University
Aurora Levins Morales
Writer
Fred Moten
University of California, Riverside
Yasser Munif
Emerson College
Tad Mutersbaugh
Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky
Chiara Nappi
Manijeh Nasrabadi
New York University
David Palumbo-Liu
Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor, Stanford
Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert
Professor, Vassar College
Rosalind Petchesky
Distinguished Professor Emerita, Hunter College & the Graduate Center CUNY
Silvia Posocco
Birkbeck, University of London
Vijay Prashad
Trinity College
Sara Pursley
Associate Editor, International Journal of Middle East Studies
Bruce Robbins
Columbia University
Corey Robin
Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center
Andrew Ross
New York University
Dr. Catherine Rottenberg
John Carlos Rowe
Rachel Rubin
Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston
Leticia Sabsay
Birkbeck College, Univeristy of London
Neil Saccamano
Cornell University
Ilan Safit
Dept. of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Pace University
Josefina Saldaña
Professor, New York University
Paul Sawyer
Cornell University
James Schamus
Columbia University
C. Heike Schotten
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Boston
Sarah Schulman
Distinguished Professor of the Humanities CUNY College of Staten Island
Sherene Seikaly
Director of Middle East Studies Center, American University in Cairo
Karen Shimakawa
Associate Professor
Lincoln Shlensky
University of Victoria
Marc Siegel
Ast. Professor, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Victor Silverman
Chair, Department of History, Pomona College
David Simpson
U of California-Davis
Jeffrey Skoller
Professor, UC Berkeley
Darryl A. Smith
Associate Professor, Pomona College
Alisa Solomon
Professor, Columbia University
Dov Waxman
Professor
Robert Warrior
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kathy Wazana
Documentary filmmaker
Max Weiss
Princeton University
Laura Wernick
Fordham University
Lisa Westarp
Grace Memorial Episcopal Church
John M. Willis
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado
Dagmawi Woubshet
Cornell University, Associate Professor
Rachel Zolf
Writer
