Category Archives: Protests

British Union’s Leaders Call Off Debates Over Academic Boycott of Israeli Universities

The Chronicle: British Union’s Leaders Call Off Debates Over Academic Boycott of Israeli Universities

The British faculty union that fanned international outrage earlier this year when delegates to its annual meeting voted to have the membership consider an academic boycott of Israeli universities sought to put an end to the controversy by announcing on Friday that it had received legal advice saying that such a move would be unlawful and could not be implemented.

The University and College Union, which has 120,000 members and is Britain’s main faculty union, did not publish the full text of the advice it had received but included excerpts in a statement posted online. “The legal advice makes it clear that making a call to boycott Israeli institutions would run a serious risk of infringing discrimination legislation,” the union’s statement said.

British Union Drops Boycott Call

Inside Higher Ed: British Union Drops Boycott Call

For several years now, British faculty unions have been voting in various ways to encourage members to boycott Israeli academics and universities — and ignoring anti-boycott pleas and resolutions and requests from scholarly societies, university presidents and academics from Britain, the United States and in some cases the Palestinian Authority. On Friday, the union announced an abrupt reversal: Based on legal advice, calls for the boycott will be dropped.

A statement from the University and College Union said that after the latest vote by union leaders, in May, the group’s leaders sought legal advice to make sure the organization wouldn’t face court challenges. The lawyers said that pushing for a boycott would be illegal. “It would be beyond the union’s powers and unlawful for the union, directly or indirectly, to call for, or to implement, a boycott by the union and its members of any kind of Israeli universities and other academic institutions; and that the use of union funds directly or indirectly to further such a boycott would also be unlawful,” the lawyers said. As a result, the union is calling off plans for a tour of local chapters to encourage them to support a boycott.

Ohio: OU’s McDavis signs onto statement opposing anti-Israeli academic boycott

The Athens News: OU’s McDavis signs onto statement opposing anti-Israeli academic boycott

Though it may have taken longer than some would have liked, Ohio University has now joined other colleges in the state and nationwide on a petition opposing a boycott of Israeli universities.

Petition Seeks Resignation of Southern Illinois U. President Over Alleged Plagiarism

The Chronicle News Blog: Petition Seeks Resignation of Southern Illinois U. President Over Alleged Plagiarism

A philosophy professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville who has publicly voiced concern about the plagiarism charges leveled against the university’s president, Glenn Poshard, and the Board of Trustees’ handling of the matter is asking faculty members to sign a petition that could further embarrass Mr. Poshard.

British Faculty Union Cites Legal Advice in Abandoning Proposed Boycott of Israel

The Chronicle News Blog: British Faculty Union Cites Legal Advice in Abandoning Proposed Boycott of Israel

The British faculty union that stoked international controversy this year when delegates to its annual meeting voted to consider whether to boycott Israeli universities and refuse to cooperate with Israeli academics has now told its members that such a move would be illegal and could not be carried out.

Rumsfeld as Fellow Draws a Protest at Stanford

The New York Times: Rumsfeld as Fellow Draws a Protest at Stanford

The appointment of Donald H. Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary, as a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution is drawing fierce protests from faculty members and students at Stanford University and is threatening to rekindle tensions between the institution, a conservative research body, and the more liberal campus.

Minnesota: Adding Hunger to the Strike

Inside Higher Ed: Adding Hunger to the Strike

Two weeks into a workers’ strike at the University of Minnesota, a group of students has jumped on board with a strike of its own — a hunger strike.

On Monday, 13 students, a professor and another supporter of the protest began starving themselves (drinking only water and juice) in solidarity with the strikers, a demonstration which they said they would continue until a settlement is reached between the university and the labor union representing the university’s clerical, technical and health care workers. They were joined on Wednesday by a planned 30 or more students who pledged to fast for a 24-hour period.

University Fences In a Berkeley Protest, and a New One Arises

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New York Times: University Fences In a Berkeley Protest, and a New One Arises

In many ways and for many months, the protest outside Memorial Stadium at the University of California has been business, and Berkeley, as usual.

On one side are the protesting tree lovers who have been living Tarzan-like since December in a stand of coastal oaks and other trees. On the other is the university, which wants to cut down the trees to build a $125 million athletic center, part of a larger plan to upgrade its aging, seismically challenged football stadium.

Day of Shame for DePaul Administration

Day of Shame for DePaul Administration; Resistance
Emerges.

On the resignation of Norman Finkelstein

(The following statement was passed out at DePaul by
activists and supporters of the National Project to
Defend Critical Thinking and Dissent in Academia.)

The first day of classes this year was a sad one for
DePaul University. After a year and more of
extraordinary pressure, as well as a concerted smear
campaign (which got extremely dirty with the recent
release of “internal memos”) – the Administration got
what they wanted: Norman Finkelstein will no longer be
a part of the life of DePaul. They have forced the
resignation of a remarkable thinker and teacher who
was well-respected by scholars and students alike,
they have violated the basic norms and practices of
the tenure process, and they have re-enforced a
terrible precedent setting in across the country.

On the same day, there was a very significant
outpouring of support and protest from students and
faculty at DePaul and elsewhere. An atmosphere of
debate and discussion erupted, where very quickly much
of the campus was discussing urgent matters of
academic freedom, and the future of critical thinking
and dissent on campus. People, including many
freshmen, boldly stepped forward and held a protest
and march which reverberated across the school.

It is unfortunate that things ended up with the
settlement and resignation of Professor Finkelstein.
This is not what many who stepped forward hoped for.

Finkelstein has said that he’s moving on. But we
cannot accept what the University has done, and we
cannot move on with business-as-usual. There is a foul
stench on campus. The DePaul Administration must be
held responsible for this deplorable and
unconscionable sequence of events. We cannot let stand
the completely unjust grounds upon which, nor the
process through which this was done; we must demand a
repudiation and apology from the Administration. This
goes against everything that the intellectual life of
a university is supposed to stand for.

This battle has both been very much about Norman
Finkelstein, but it’s also been about something much
bigger- the overall assault on critical thinking and
dissent on campuses. With the recent firing of
tenured-professor Ward Churchill at the University of
Colorado, the attacks on Middle East and Ethnic
Studies, and with the actions of David Horowitz, who
was brought to DePaul just this spring and who has
just announced plans for “Islamo-Fascism Awareness
Week” on campuses across the country in October- these
attacks are growing by leaps and bounds. And if the
whole process and grounds on which Norman Finkelstein
was forced to resign are not repudiated and apologized
for- then this opens the door for other attacks on
professors, and it further sets a chill onto campuses
everywhere. Now is the time for the resistance to both
spread much more broadly, and come forward even more
boldly. There’s not a minute to lose.

–Penny Brown and Samantha Hamlin, Supporters of the
National Project to Defend Critical Thinking and
Dissent in Academia, www.defendcriticalthinking.org

Finkelstein Supporters Stage Protest at DePaul U.’s Convocation

The Chronicle News Blog: Finkelstein Supporters Stage Protest at DePaul U.’s Convocation

Ten to 20 professors joined roughly 30 students and community members in a silent protest today at DePaul University’s fall convocation over how the institution has treated Norman G. Finkelstein. Mr. Finkelstein, a controversial political scientist, was denied tenure at the university last spring. And just this week, DePaul announced that it had put Mr. Finkelstein on leave for the duration of his final year, and canceled the courses he had been scheduled to teach.

At today’s convocation, the students carried posters and banners and wore T-shirts that said, “We are all Professor Finkelstein.” Some professors also wore the shirts under their robes. Kathryn Weber, president of the DePaul Academic Freedom Committee, a students’ group formed in reaction to the tenure decision, said a larger protest was scheduled for the first day of classes, next Wednesday. Mr. Finkelstein has vowed to teach his classes, regardless of DePaul’s announcement, and said he is prepared to “engage in nonviolent civil disobedience and go to jail.” —Elizabeth Quill

150 Injured in Bangladeshi Students’ Protests of Military Presence at U. of Dhaka

The Chronicle: 150 Injured in Bangladeshi Students’ Protests of Military Presence at U. of Dhaka

At least 150 university students in and around Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, have been injured in violent clashes with the police since Monday, when protests began against the presence of the country’s army on the campus of the University of Dhaka.

According to A.F.M. Yusuf Haider, the university’s acting vice chancellor, the clashes began after students at the University of Dhaka demanded an apology from soldiers who got into an argument with and assaulted some students on Monday evening.

New Zealand: Student riots rock Dunedin

The New Zealand Herald: Student riots rock New Zealand

Dunedin’s mayor has been talking about his shock and disappointment at last night’s destructive rampage in the city’s student area.

Fifty-two people will face the courts this week after drunken crowds set fire to cars, couches and mattresses.

More than 10,000 academics sign petition against U.K. boycott bid

Haaretz: More than 10,000 academics sign petition against U.K. boycott bid

More than 10,000 people have signed a petition denouncing attempts to mount an academic boycott against Israel. The petition was initiated in early June by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), an independent, faculty-driven, nonprofit group.

Petition Protests British Union’s Proposed Boycott of Israeli Academics

The Chronicle: Petition Protests British Union’s Proposed Boycott of Israeli Academics

A Pennsylvania-based organization that campaigns for peace in the Middle East says it has drawn more than 10,000 signatures to an online petition organized in response to a move by Britain’s main faculty union to consider an academic boycott of Israeli universities and academics.

UK academic boycott backlash

Jerusalem Post: UK academic boycott backlash

The international outcry against the call by the UK’s University and College Union (UCU) to boycott Israeli academic institutions has strengthened with a petition by academics reaching 10,000 signatures.

The petition, which calls on academics to show solidarity with their Israeli counterparts, raised over 10,000 signatures in seven weeks.

Boycotts and medicine don’t mix

The Guardian (Comment is Free): Boycotts and medicine don’t mix

The BMJ has no place in discussing the politics of the Middle East – it would do better to deal with the plethora of health inequalities on our doorstep.

President of black university slams British boycott of Israeli academe

Haaretz: President of black university slams British boycott of Israeli academe

The President of Dillard University, a historically black institution in New Orleans, sent a letter this week to Rabbi Marc Schneier, President and Founder of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, strongly stating the school’s objection to British calls to boycott the Israeli academe.

Call from Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom

Below is a call from Students and Faculty for True
Academic Freedom urging people to come to the
University of Colorado Regents Meeting on July 24th.
This is the last chance before the Regents decide
Churchill’s fate. How this decision goes down will
have tremendous implications, both for Churchill, and
for critical thinking and dissent more broadly –
particularly in the wake of the denial of tenure for
DePaul professor Norman Finkelstein. The Regents
meeting must take place in an atmosphere which fully
repudiates the entire “investigation” of Churchill and
the agenda behind it. The Regents and those behind the
assault on Churchill need to know that any dismissal
of Churchill will not be allowed to stand – and that
we will not let it become a precedent for launching
further attacks.

If you cannot get to Boulder, there are other
important ways of contributing to this effort:

* Send letters of protest to the CU Board of Regents.
The Regents can be reached c/o Millie.Cortez@cu.edu,
or individually at

Steve.Ludwig@cu.edu, Cindy.Carlisle@cu.edu,
Patricia.Hayes@cu.edu, Michael.Carrigan@cu.edu,
Tom.Lucero@cu.edu, Steve.Bosley@cu.edu,
Kyle.Hybl@cu.edu, Paul.Schauer@cu.edu,
Tillie.Bishop@cu.edu

Please cc: to criticalxthinking@yahoo.com and
wcsn@gmail.com so that they can be used in press
materials.

* If you know people in the Boulder area, contact them
and urge them to go.

* Write letters to the editor, both before and after
the decision.

* If you would like to be available for comments to
the press in the aftermath of the decision, please
contact us.

Please forward this message to others you know.
Thanks.
_____________________________________________

From Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom

Will the CU Regents Fire Ward Churchill?
They vote on July 24. Let’s make our voices heard.

JOIN OUR VIGIL & OBSERVE REGENTS’ MEETING:

When: Tuesday July 24 at 7:30 a.m.

Where: meet up in the plaza in front of the UMC
student center
( Euclid Ave entrance just east of Broadway)

From there, we’ll walk over and attend the Regents’
meeting:
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

* We are using this meet-up plan because the location
of Regents’ meeting has not yet been announced. The
UMC is close to UMC parking and centrally located on
campus.

Why Mobilize:

The Regents of the University of Colorado have
scheduled a meeting on the CU-Boulder campus on July
24, 2007 to vote on the dismissal of Professor Ward
Churchill.

The University is pretending to fire him for his
scholarship, but it’s clearly in retaliation for his
comments about 9/11. To see what’s wrong with the
so-called research misconduct charges, visit
www.wardchurchill.net or
www.defendcriticalthinking.org.

Students and Faculty for True Academic Freedom call
upon all those who care about free speech and academic
freedom to join us in protesting this charade.

The Regents will open with a “public” meeting at 8:00
am. They will go into a closed session to hear
arguments from Prof. Churchill and his attorney, as
well as the University’s lawyers. They say they will
re-open for their public vote at 4:00 p.m.

As we know, a “public” meeting doesn’t mean that the
public will have a chance to speak. (Witness the
arrests at their February 2005 meeting.)

Our plan is to have observers at the meeting and hold
a vigil outside. It is critical to be there to convey
our message:
* Don’t Fire Ward Churchill
* Defend Critical Thinking
* Preserve Academic Freedom

We may not change the Regents’ vote, but the world is
watching. This is a test case: The easier they think
it is to fire Ward Churchill on bogus charges of
research misconduct, the more attacks we’ll see on
professors and students, on ethnic studies programs,
and on critical thinking.

As usual, this decision will take place when most of
the students and faculty are away from campus. And, of
course, the Regents may change their plans at the last
minute to avoid any real public input. So, spread the
word, stay tuned, and check out last minute
developments at: www.wardchurchill.net.

____________________________________________________________________________________
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Oxford academics voice hostility on boycott

The Guardian: Oxford academics voice hostility on boycott

This article was corrected on Monday July 2 2007

In this article we said that UCU delegates voted for “a comprehensive and consistent boycott of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions in response to Israel’s ’40-year occupation’ of Palestinian land”. This should have said that delegates voted for “the circulation to all branches and local associations of the boycott call from a Palestinian trade union organisation ‘for information and discussion'”. This has been corrected.

Oxford University academics have voted overwhelmingly to call a ballot on whether to boycott Israeli universities and expressed opposition to the general value of boycotts.

The University and College Union sparked international controversy last month when members voted to debate the possibility of boycotting Israeli academics at their annual conference.

Oxford academics voice hostility on boycott

The Guardian: Oxford academics voice hostility on boycott

Oxford University academics have voted overwhelmingly to call a ballot on whether to boycott Israeli universities and expressed opposition to the general value of boycotts.

The University and College Union sparked international controversy last month when members voted to debate the possibility of boycotting Israeli academics at their annual conference.

The majority of Oxford’s union members – 96% – wanted to call a ballot on the contentious issue, piling more pressure on the union to have one. A similar number – 94.8% – supported the view that Oxford is opposed to academic boycotts per se.