President Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi
International Society for Iranian Studies
m.tavakoli@utoronto.ca
Dear President Tavakoli‐Targhi,
We the undersigned are members of the board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, an organization with over 50,000 scholars on more than 3500 campuses world‐wide who believe that discussions of the Middle East at college, universities and other scholarly venues must take place in an informed, open and civil manner. We are aware of the recent issues at ISIS concerning Professor Ronen Cohen of the Ariel University Center and wish to express our support for the strong and courageous stand you have taken on the principle of academic freedom. Too often, lately, scholars and other speakers have been intimidated, silenced or harassed on the basis of purely political considerations. As you rightly note, scholars all over the world are facing pressure because of their political or religious views, or those of their institutions or governments.
We strongly agree that scholars like Professor Cohen deserve a hearing on their areas of expertise and should be able to engage in the most fundamental practice of our profession, the open and free exchange of ideas and opinions on academic topics. The importation into the academy of boycotting and intimidation on the basis of one group or another’s politics constitutes a tremendous danger to the very foundations of research and higher education in North America, Europe and elsewhere. We commend you for standing up for the highest academic standards in this very difficult situation.
Peter Haas, Ph.D. (Case Western Reserve University, USA) President
Samuel M. Edelman, Ph.D. (California State University-Chico) Executive Director
Judith S. Jacobson, Ph.D. (Columbia University) Vice-President for Internal Relations
Ruth Lichtenberg-Contreras, Ph.D. (Vienna, Austria) Secretary
Leila Beckwith, Ph.D. (University of California-Los Angeles) Treasurer
Edward S. Beck, Ed.D. CCMHC, NCC, LPC (Walden University) Immediate Past President
Philip Carl Salzman, Ph.D. (McGill University, Canada)
Jonathan Adelman, Ph.D.(University of Denver, USA)
Steven Albert, Ph.D., MPH (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
John R. Cohn, MD (Thomas Jefferson University, USA)
Stanley Dubinsky Ph.D. (University of South Carolina, USA)
Awi Federgruen, DSc (Columbia University)
Rev. India E. Garnett, M.Div (United Church of Christ, PA)
Efraim Karsh, Ph.D. (Kings College, University of London, UK)
Matthias Kuentzel (Political Scientist and Author, Hamburg, Germany)
Richard Landes (Boston University, USA)
Kenneth L. Marcus (Baruch College of the City University of New York)
David Menashri, Ph.D. (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
G.S. Don Morris Ph.D.(Wingate Institute – IL, California Polytechnic Institute-Pomona, USA)
Donna Robinson Divine, Ph.D.(Smith College, USA)
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin (University of California at Santa Cruz)
Barry Rubin, Ph.D. (Interdisciplinary Center and GLORIA Center)
Ernest Sternberg, Ph.D. (University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA)
