New York University on Wednesday
denounced the Middle East Studies Association’s recent endorsement of an academic boycott of Israel.
The school joined growing calls for MESA to reverse its embrace of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, which was approved by members of the scholarly association in a
vote earlier this month.
“NYU rejects and is deeply disappointed by the Middle East Studies Association’s recently passed resolution calling for an academic boycott of Israel,” university spokesperson John Beckman
said in a statement issued Wednesday. “NYU’s opposition to academic boycotts is longstanding and is grounded in the belief that academic boycotts are at odds with the principles of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas.”
Beckman also cited several examples of NYU’s opposition to BDS, going as far back as
2013, when President David McLaughlin expressed “disappointment, disagreement, and opposition” to an American Studies Association’s
resolution to boycott Israel. NYU rejected BDS
again in 2016 after it was endorsed by the NYU Graduate Student Union, and in 2018,
when the NYU Student Government Assembly
passed a pro-BDS resolution accusing Israel of “ongoing violation of [Palestinians’] human rights.”
(full article online )
The New York University campus. Photo: Cincin12/Wiki Commons. New York University on Wednesday denounced the Middle East Studies Association’s recent …
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