The Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel as a Defense of Academic Freedom
Anthony Alessandrini | 20 August 2024 | Academe Blog
The AAUP’s new “Statement on Academic Boycotts,” which reverses its prior opposition to academic boycotts, is a major declaration. Stating clearly that boycotts “can be considered legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education,” it confirms there are instances in which upholding academic freedom may mean withholding our intellectual labor.
The AAUP statement is a framework for understanding the relationship between boycotts and academic freedom in the largest sense and does not mention any specific campaigns. If I use the occasion of this statement to discuss the Palestinian Campaign for an Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), it is because opponents have so often weaponized the AAUP’s previous 2006 report On Academic Boycotts against this campaign…