Dear Dr. Beck,

On behalf of the faculty, staff and students of Temple University, I am writing to express my support of the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East petition condemning the British University and College Union boycott of Israel scholars and academic institutions.

Temple is committed to academic freedom, and we assert that free inquiry and free expression are indispensable to the transmission of knowledge, the pursuit of truth, the development of students, and the general well-being of society. The British Union’s boycott limits these essential academic values by seeking to silence an entire nationality of scholars.

We thereby stand in solidarity with our colleagues in the Israeli academic community, and will decline to participate in activities from which Israeli academics are excluded. Please contact me if I can provide additional support for your important advocacy on this issue.

Sincerely

Ann Weaver Hart
President
Temple University