Yet another indication of the absolute corruption of American academia today. “US scholars’ group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel,” from the Jerusalem Post, December 16:
NEW YORK — The 5,000-member American Studies Association (ASA), which describes itself as “the nation’s oldest and largest association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history,” announced on Monday that it had endorsed and would participate in a boycott of Israeli universities and academic institutions.
It is the second educational group in the US to adopt the boycott. The Association for Asian American Studies did so in April. Another academic group, the American Association of University Professors, recently reiterated its opposition.
In all, 1,252 members of the ASA participated in the vote on whether or not to endorse the boycott. Approximately 66 percent voted yes, 30% voted no and 3% abstained. The voting began on December 4 and ended on Sunday.
The membership-wide canvass was unprecedented. It was undertaken in part at the behest of boycott opponents who said at the ASA”s annual conference last month in Washington that the matter was too sensitive to leave to the group’s 20-member national council, which had unanimously endorsed a boycott.
“The National Council engaged and addressed questions and concerns of the membership throughout the process,” the ASA statement said.
“During the open discussion at the recent convention, members asked us to draft a resolution that was relevant to the ASA in particular and so the Council’s final resolution acknowledged that the US plays a significant role in enabling the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
The final resolution, which applies to the ASA as an organization, is not binding on its members. It also targets institutions, not individuals.
In Monday”s announcement, the ASA said it would still invite Israeli and Palestinian academics to its 2014 national meeting in Los Angeles.
Jewish groups in the US reacted strongly and immediately to the announcement….
Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, had similar words for the ASA , saying that it was actions like this that caused “many Americans [to] dismiss the academy as deeply biased and disconnected with reality….”
Indeed.