SPME
Last week, the American Association of University Professors set aside its hundred-year defense of academic freedom by opening the door to any number of individually initiated academic boycotts. Individual students and faculty have always had the right to advocate for academic…
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Download and print a PDF version here. In this comprehensive critique Cary Nelson argues that the recent ‘Jerusalem Declaration’ on Antisemitism should be rejected because it accommodates, rather than challenges, what has been called ‘the new antisemitism’. After reviewing the debate…
read moreThe new issue of the journal Israel Studies has caused an international controversy, initially in academia, but now stretching well beyond the ivory tower. ‘Word Crimes: Reclaiming the Language of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict’ sought to challenge what the editors and contributors considered an often delegitimising language used…
read moreIn the 1970s and 1980s the emerging field of Women’s Studies embodied the hopes and goals for transforming humanities disciplines. It led a long overdue effort to hire more women faculty. It promoted the drive to show how rigorous, well-researched…
read moreDear SPME Members: As many of you are no doubt aware, an important vote on a resolution endorsing a boycott of Israeli universities will be taking place at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association (MLA) this Saturday. The…
read moreWhen Steven Salaita received a conditional job offer from a college dean at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the letter included a standard disclaimer, warning him that the offer would not be final until and unless the board of…
read moreI have always resisted the Zionist label, because it pigeonholed and typecast me. My colleagues often assume that Zionism means a prepackaged, preordained politics, including that you never criticize Israeli government policy. Declaring yourself a Zionist all too often gave…
read moreEarly this year my colleague Gabriel Brahm and I approached a series of academics with an usual request. Higher education was facing an increasing number of struggles over the pressure to boycott Israeli universities. Academic freedom had long supported the…
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