Responding in part to a boycott of Israeli universities and professors proposed in May by the British University and College Union, the Cogut Center for the Humanities will hold a series of events this spring about intellectual exchange in academia.
A May 30 motion in the UCU called for a boycott of Israeli academia in response to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory. The resolution condemned the "complicity of Israeli academia in the occupation" and urged UCU members to consider the moral implications of interacting with Israeli universities. The UCU announced in September that it had sought legal advice and determined that an academic boycott of Israeli institutions would be unlawful.
The proposed boycott sparked a strong response from presidents of U.S. universities. In August, almost 300 university presidents signed a full-page ad in the New York Times declaring, "Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours, Too!" The ad featured a statement by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, who said a boycott was "utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy."
President Ruth Simmons did not sign the petition, but she condemned the boycott in a personal letter to UCU Joint General Secretary Sally Hunt. Simmons told The Herald in September that she was "weary of one-shot efforts for profound issues" and hoped to do something that would make a "salient and more prolonged" argument. Primarily, Simmons said she hoped to engage students and faculty in the issues of freedom of speech and intellectual exchange in the academy.
The events planned for the spring will address these issues, even though the UCU ultimately did not impose a boycott. The president of Hebrew University of Jerusalem will speak, and the University has also invited the presidents of two Arab universities, according to Professor of History Michael Steinberg, director of the Cogut Center. Two visiting scholars from Israeli universities may speak as well.
Since the events this spring will be sponsored by the Cogut Center, they will focus on the humanities. But Steinberg said he is "fairly certain that these ideas apply throughout the University."
