Academic Boycott of Israel

The Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) includes a community of groups involved with advocacy on Canadian campuses. Updates are provided by the University Outreach Committee @ http://www.cija.ca/uoc/uoc2.html as to the situations and concerns confronting Jewish students and staff there.

From Karen Burke UOC, CIJA (kburke@cija.ca)

The message from 24 Canadian University Presidents has been clear – they all condemn the actions of the UCU in proposing an Israeli academic boycott.

The most recent statements were issued by President Patterson of Trent University, President Mahmoud of Carleton University, and President Turpin of University of Victoria (attached below for your reference). We must as a community express our gratitude to them for taking this stand.

I ask that you write or contact, and cause others (your boards, your contacts, your students, your colleagues, etc.) to write or contact, President Patterson, President Mahmoud, and President Turpin to thank them for doing the right thing in support of academic freedom. For your reference, their email addresses are as follows.

President Bonnie Patterson, Trent University: bmpatterson@trentu.ca

President Samy Mahmoud, Carleton University: samy_mahmoud@carleton.ca

President David Turpin, University of Victoria: dturpin@uvic.ca

Statement by Bonnie M. Patterson President and Vice-Chancellor

Issued by the Office of the President * July 25, 2007

On the boycott of Israeli Universities by the United Kingdom's University and College Union

The exchange of knowledge and ideas are essential to the advancement of human development. It is through sharing and collaboration that culture, science and civic society will meet the challenges of the future.

The United Kingdom's University and College Union's proposed boycott of Israeli universities and scholars is the union's attempt to show their displeasure over Israel's policies regarding Palestinians. At its most fundamental level, this boycott is a violation of the academy's core values and should be denounced.

Any attempt to constrain the ability of university scholars to engage freely in their research and scholarly activity is an attack on the fundamental value of academic freedom. At its very core, academic freedom must be unfettered by dogmas, religion and political systems.

We live in a world in which universities and their faculty members should seek to promote scholarly understanding and to remove barriers to academic exchange, expression and collaboration.

To this end, I urge our British university colleagues to reject the boycott proposal. Trent University condemns any attempt to limit academic freedom of colleagues, anywhere around the world, and promotes free academic expression as a core value that defines all university environments.