COMMENTARY: Boycotts Run Counter to University Values

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In late May, Britain’s University and College Union (UCU), which calls itself the country’s largest academic association, voted “to consider” a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. A similar resolution was adopted in June by UNISON, the British public service trade union. It urged “concerted and sustained pressure upon Israel […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In late May, Britain’s University and College Union (UCU), which calls itself the country’s largest academic association, voted “to consider” a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

A similar resolution was adopted in June by UNISON, the British public service trade union. It urged “concerted and sustained pressure upon Israel including an economic cultural, academic, and sporting boycott.”


These actions sparked immediate criticism in Britain, but the negative reaction was especially intense in the United States. A boycott runs counter to everything free and open universities represent: sharing ideas, students, and faculty; cooperating on scholarly and scientific ventures, and upholding the hard-won principle of academic freedom.

The twin resolutions are reminiscent of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Saddam Hussein and other tyrants who destroyed their nations’ free universities by “boycotting” and then crushing independent professors and academic institutions. But I did not expect academic boycotts from British unions.

Lee Bollinger, president of New York’s Columbia University, was one of the first academics outraged by the British actions. “I find this idea utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment,” he said.

The Columbia president challenged the supporters of the anti-Israel boycott: “If the … UCU is intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should add Columbia to its boycott list. … (These are) shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education.”

Bollinger wasn’t alone. On Aug. 8, the American Jewish Committee ran a full-page ad in the New York Times listing the names of 286 supportive college and university presidents. Since the ad appeared, another 46 presidents have added their names to the list.

In addition, Elie Wiesel, winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, was joined by 56 other Nobel Laureates in denouncing the British unions for their “shameful” action. Among the signatories were the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev.

To illustrate the absurdity and dangers of academic boycotts, imagine if Israel decides to boycott the two British unions _ meaning no UCU or UNISON members would receive any benefits stemming from the achievements of Israel’s universities.


The Weizmann Institute is doing important work in combating multiple sclerosis, and Ben-Gurion University is attacking deadly diseases created by mosquitoes and black flies, especially in Africa and China. The late Christopher Reeve called Israel the “world center” in treating acute spinal injuries.

They would not receive the new anti-schizophrenia medication being developed at Bar-Ilan University, nor would they benefit from the Technion’s latest research against multiple myelaoma cancer _ vital work that merited two Nobel Prizes. To lessen world hunger, University of Haifa professors are working on a gene to increase the protein in wheat harvests around the world.

Union members suffering from Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases would not receive the hopeful new drugs emerging from Hebrew University and Weizmann Institute laboratories.

UCU and UNISON members with post-traumatic stress disorder would not benefit from the Hebrew University’s work in isolating the stem protein causing the disease.

If there’s an oil spill on a British campus _ a river, lake or pond _ no use can be made of Tel Aviv University’s “BioPetroClean” system that helps eradicate such environmental disasters.

British union members should remember that Israel is the only country in the world outside the U.S. where both Microsoft and Cisco have research and development facilities. That means UCU and UNISON members can’t use computers utilizing Microsoft or Cisco components.


Finally, an Israeli company is working on software to prevent the bombings seen on the London Underground. The company wishes to complete its research in the UK, but will be unable to because of the boycott.

The two odious resolutions need to be quickly repealed so a disgraceful chapter in British history will come to an end.

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

KRE/LF END RUDIN750 words

A photo of Rabbi Rudin is available via https://religionnews.com

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