‘Everyone Loses’ When Boycotts Exclude a Country’s Scholars
To the Editor:
Some academics in the United States and Canada are proposing a boycott of Israeli academics. And in Britain, the University and College Union, which has over 120,000 members, has voted to frame new resolutions to boycott Israeli academics that might overcome legal obstacles that stood in the way of similar measures in the past.
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‘Everyone Loses’ When Boycotts Exclude a Country’s Scholars, Chronicle of Higher Education
While the Committee of Concerned Scientists supports the right of scientists and others to criticize the policies of governments, we strongly oppose the blanket exclusion of colleagues from participation in international scientific or academic work on the sole basis of their nationality. Scholars and scientists of a country singled out by the boycott may or may not agree with their government’s initiatives, and they may be open to persuasion about such matters, but they are not the policy makers.
The whole scholarly and scientific enterprise depends upon the ferment that generates new ideas and experiments. Scientific meetings and exchanges are the settings where science develops (including the opportunity for discussion of human rights and scientific freedom). Scientists and academics of the country singled out by the boycott are precluded from contributing to international collaborations, to professional publications, and to various areas of teaching and learning. It is not merely scholars and scientists who suffer but also their students, who lose access to mentors, meetings, and potential colleagues. Everyone loses when political forces damp the vital process of scientific communication.
Punishing the innocent for the perceived misdeeds of others is deeply offensive. We strongly urge our colleagues to resist requests to join boycott petitions. Moreover, in the interest of science, we urge them to persuade institutions with which they are affiliated that such boycotts are wrong and should not be implemented.
Walter Reich
Professor of International Affairs, Ethics, and Human Behavior
George Washington University
Washington
Paul Plotz, M.D.
Washington
Joel Lebowitz
Professor of Mathematics and Physics
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, N.J.