This story was originally published by Real clear wire
By Thomas K. Lindsay
Real clear wire
The acronym for the American Association of University Professors is AAUP. However, recent actions have led some to read “AAUP” as “Anti-Israel University Professors Association.”
Why? Last month Chronicle of Higher Education ” published an article titled “Why the AAUP Changed Its Position on Academic BoycottsExplains why the AAUP announced that it would “no longer vigorously oppose academic boycotts in which faculty refuse to collaborate with other scholars or academic institutions.” New AAUP PolicySuch a boycott “can 1726266723 “It should be viewed as a legitimate tactical response to situations that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education.” In a (failed) attempt to cover up, the AAUP added that such boycotts “should target only those institutions of higher education that violate academic freedom or the fundamental rights on which academic freedom depends.”
What does this mean? According to former president Carrie Nelson, this means that the AAUP has officially approved a boycott of Israeli universities. This new “right” that the AAUP has gifted to its member universities is: Nelson writes“Including the right to refuse to write a letter of recommendation for a highly qualified student who wants to study at an Israeli university. This is a measure that can only be defended by boycotting Israeli institutions. It does not mean that the affected students will accept this distinction.” This explains the title of Nelson’s article, “AAUP Abandons Academic Freedom.”
What will be the consequences of this policy change? Nelson predicts.[s] “In the 2024-25 academic year, hundreds of these individual micro-boycotts of Jewish and Israeli students and faculty will begin. . . . There will also be a dedicated group effort to criminalize collaborative research projects between faculty in the United States and Israel, which often involve institutional support and assistance.”
All true, but it is unfortunate. And in his previous role as AAUP president, Nelson can see that the arc of the higher education universe is not bending toward justice in this case, but rather in the opposite direction. “In 2005, the AAUP knew that if opposition to academic boycotts were not respected as a universal principle, there would be a lot of debate about boycotting universities in various countries, and academic boycotts would become the norm. The AAUP is now willing to pay that price for growing anti-Zionism.”
In hammering the final nail into the AAUP’s coffin, Nelson highlights the utter hypocrisy behind the policy change. “In the Academic Freedom Index, which ranks 179 countries around the world, … Israeli universities rank in the top 20-30 percent, significantly higher than the United States,” he reminds us. “The AAUP made a political decision based on bias, not fact. Jewish students and faculty will suffer unfairly as a result.”
Eighty years after the Holocaust, this is what our most brilliant minds have decided to impose on us. And they do it in the name of “academic freedom!” All of this reminds me of Orwell’s formulation of the party’s creed. 1984: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
The world was turned upside down by our academic elites who decided what would happen to the countries affected by the attacks of October 7, 2023.The incident left 1,139 people dead, including 815 civilians, and 251 hostages.—In reality, they are members of the “oppressor” class.As taught in DEI), and for these, there are very few arrests that are explicitly prohibited.
The way the AAUP justifies its new policy is strikingly similar to the justification for what is called the “heckler’s veto,” which is the argument that we have a First Amendment right to silence the speech of others. Our courts have consistently ruled against this argument, but the AAUP wants us to believe it, saying that canceling a collaborative academic project between an American and Israeli university is an act of “academic freedom.”
In fact, such a cancellation does not help freedom. It helps the hatred of the anti-Israel mob that has taken over the AAUP.
This article was originally published by RealClearEducation and made available through RealClearWire.
