Campaign Update 9
10th August 2007
300 US University presidents say 'Boycott us too'
- In an advert published in the New York Times this week, 300 presidents of US Universities and colleges condemned the academic boycott of Israel.
- The advert raised the threat that an academic boycott could seriously damage the relationship between British Universites and their American counterparts.
- The presidents endorsed comments by Lee Bollinger President of Columbia University, who said:
"...if the British UCU is intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should add Columbia to its boycott list, for we do not intend to draw distinctions between our mission and that of the universities you are seeking to punish. Boycott us, then, for we gladly stand together with our many colleagues in British, American and Israeli universities against such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education." - Commenting on the statement, senior UK academic Professor Mark Pepys FRS said:
"This is a matter of grave concern. The robust position of 300 US institutions in defence of the universally recognised principle of academic freedom cannot be ignored. American academia, with its depth, breadth and scale, has enormous impact in the UK at all levels of academic life.
"There is now an immediate imperative for all British universities to take an equally rigorous and unequivocal public stand so that they are not tainted by association with those individuals who propose a boycott. Before even more damage is done to our universities and the reputation of the country itself, every university should state, as Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and LSE have already done, that they oppose the boycott."
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Stop the Boycott in Israel
- Senior leaders of the Stop the Boycott campaign will travel to Israel next week.
- While there they will be briefing the International Advisory Board on Academic Freedom and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- They will also be dicussing strategy, and making sure that all international resources are used in full coordination.
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UCU Update
- The UCU has published more details about the regional meetings it will be holding on the academic boycott of Israel.
- These meetings will be in October and will only be open to UCU members, who will need tickets in advance. The speakers will be Israeli and Palestinian Trade Unionsists.
- The (provisional) dates for the meetings are:
Monday 15th October
Southampton
Tuesday 16th October
Cardiff
Wednesday 17th October
Birmingham
Thursday 18th October
London
Monday 22nd October
Manchester
Tuesday 23rd October
Glasgow
- If you are a UCU member, put the date of your local meeting in your diary and remember to apply for tickets.
- Stop the Boycott will send more information as it becomes available.
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UNISON Distances itself from Boycott
- UNISON made moves to distance itself from a boycott of Israel this week.
- Dave Prentis, the union's General Secretary, wrote to Ofir Eini of the Histadrut to confirm that the Union's policy "does not commit Unison to boycott Israel or Israeli organisations".
- Keith Sonnet, the Union's deputy General Secretary, wrote to American Jewish newspaper The Forward to express similar points.
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Roundup
TUC
- Despite some speculation, there is no motion about boycotts at this year's Trades Union Congress.
- The TUC actively opposes a boycott, and helped overturn the NUJ's policy.
Liberal Democrats
- There will be a debate on the party's polcy on the academic boycott of Israel on the first day of the Liberal Democrat Party's annual Conference.
- Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell and frontbencher Chris Huhne have condemned a boycott.
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