What should we learn from the American Studies Association’s lopsided December 15 vote to endorse the anti-Israel boycott? Here are five takeaways: The Jewish Community Got Beat There is no question about it. The American Studies Association’s anti-Israel boycott resolution is a defeat for everyone who is concerned about anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in higher education. The ASA is the largest, most important academic association to support the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel (BDS). By a membership vote of nearly 2-to-1, the ASA voted to support a limited academic boycott of Israel, the first country that the association has ever seen fit to treat in this manner. For years, Israel’s supporters have observed that BDS tarnishes Israel’s reputation even when it fails. Until recently, BDS resolutions failed over and over again in the United States. Yet each battle imposed a cost, as Israel was falsely cast in the public mind as a rogue nation. The harm is obviously greater when these resolutions actually pass, as they have recently on some university campuses, such as the University of California at Berkeley and Irvine. The ASA resolution gives a scholarly imprimatur to a cause that is at best political and at worst bigoted. The ASA’s New Image 2. The ASA Was the Biggest Loser In the end, the ASA is the biggest loser, and this outcome will not be lost on other associations. For its efforts, the ASA is now publicly mocked, ridiculed and condemned, even by some of its own members and past presidents, as well as by major scholars and numerous university presidents. Even those who do not discern anti-Semitism in the ASA resolution nevertheless perceive a violation of academic freedom. The American Association of University Professors announced that the boycott would violate the academic freedom “not only of Israeli scholars but also of American scholars who might be pressured to comply with it.” More importantly, perhaps, the ASA has now lost any scholarly reputation that it might previously have had and is now seen as a largely political institution. Four universities have already terminated their institutional memberships in the ASA. Penn State Harrisburg was the first to cut its formal ties, followed by Brandeis University, Indiana University at Bloomington, and Kenyon College. These four institutions should be honored for their leadership. In short order, over sixty universities have issued strong statements rejecting the ASA’s actions. Professor William A. Jacobson compiled this list of institutions that have denounced the ASA boycott: American University (D.C.) Birmingham Southern College Boston University Bowdon College Brandeis University Brooklyn College, CUNY Brown University Case Western Reserve University Cornell University Dickinson College Duke University Florida International University Fordham University George Washington University Hamilton College Harvard University Haverford College Indiana University Johns Hopkins University Kenyon College Lehigh University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Michigan State Middlebury College New York University Northwestern University Ohio State Princeton University Purdue University Rhode Island College Rutgers University Smith College Stanford University The City University of New York Trinity College (CT) Tufts University Tulane University University of Alabama System University of California System University of California-Berkeley University of California-Irvine University of California-San Diego University of Chicago University of Cincinnati University of Connecticut University of Delaware University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Kansas University of Maryland University of Maryland – Baltimore County University of Miami University of Michigan University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Southern California University of Texas-Austin Washington University in St. Louis Wesleyan University Willamette University Yale University Yeshiva University 3. Other Universities May (and Should) Cut Ties More universities may, and should, cut their institutional memberships with ASA. As former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers has cogently argued, “My hope would be that responsible university leaders will become very reluctant to see their university’s funds used to finance faculty membership and faculty travel to an association that is showing itself not to be a scholarly association but really more of a political tool.” The ASA helpfully publicizes a list of its institutional members, which is now readily available thanks again to Professor Jacobson: AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION – INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS 2013 Alberta Institute for American Studies Bard Graduate Center Boston College Boston University Brandeis University Brigham Young University Brown University California State University, Fullerton California State University, Long Beach Carnegie-Mellon University Centre for the Study of the United States College of Staten Island, CUNY College of William and Mary Cornell University Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art CUNY Graduate Center, American Studies Certificate Program DePaul University Dickinson College Eccles Centre for American Studies, The British Library Emory University Fordham University Franklin College of Indiana George Washington University Georgetown University Hamilton College Harvard University Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Indiana University Kennesaw State University Kenyon College Lehigh University The Long Island Museum Michigan State University, English Department Middlebury College New York University Northwestern University Penn State University, Harrisburg Princeton University Ramapo College Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Rider University Roger Williams University Rowan College of New Jersey Rutgers University, New Brunswick Saint John Fisher College Saint Louis University Saint Olaf College Skidmore College Smith College Sophia University St. Francis College Stanford University, American Studies Program Stanford University, Green Library Stetson University Students At The Center Temple University Trinity College, Hartford, CT. Tufts University University of Alabama University of California, San Diego University of Delaware University of Hawaii University of Iowa University of Maryland, Baltimore County University of Minnesota University of Mississippi University of New Mexico University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of Notre Dame University of Oklahoma Honors College University of Southern California University of Southern Mississippi University of Texas, Austin University of Texas, Dallas University of Utah University of Western Ontario University of Wyoming Vanderbilt University Vassar Washington State University Washington University, St. Louis Western Connecticut State University Willamette University Winterthur Program in Early American Culture Youngstown State University Significantly, some of these institutions have denied that they are ASA members, even though the ASA claims them as members on their web site. These include Brown, Northwestern, Tufts, Temple, Willamette, and the University of Southern California. As Prof. Eugene Kantorovich observes, the ASA owes these institutions an explanation. Interestingly, the presidents of many of these universities are signatories to the American Jewish Committee’s powerful ad, which boldly proclaims: “Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours Too!” Indeed, these institutions joined Columbia University President Lee Bolinger’s statement that anti-Israel academic boycotts are “utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment.” At a minimum, universities that endorsed the AJC statement should demonstrate intellectual consistency and integrity by dropping their institutional memberships with the ASA. That would seem to include the following institutions: Bard Graduate Center Brigham Young University California State University, Long Beach Carnegie-Mellon University College of William and Mary Cornell University Georgetown University Michigan State University, English Department Middlebury College Princeton University Ramapo College Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Roger Williams University Rutgers University, New Brunswick Smith College Trinity College, Hartford, CT. University of Maryland, Baltimore County University of Minnesota University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill University of Texas, Austin University of Texas, Dallas University of Utah Washington State University Washington University, St. Louis One should hope that alumni, trustees, faculty and students at these institutions will be asking their administrations to take action. 4. The Courts May Have the Final Say The ASA may be held accountable in other ways too. Its resolution has, to say the least, pushed the legal envelope with respect to anti-boycott laws. Several groups, including the Louis D. Brandeis Center, are contemplating taking legal action against the association. Anti-Israel boycotts may violate federal anti-boycott law, as well as the laws of some states, such as Section 296(13) of New York’s Human Rights’ Law, and localities. The ASA, and other institutions that adopt such boycott resolutions, should not be surprised to find themselves in court. In addition, the BDS resolution may jeopardize the ASA’s tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, since it is arguably a political activity outside of the ASA’s mission. The ASA is on notice that its tax-exempt status may soon be challenged. 5. MLA is Next Sadly, the ASA is not alone. Despite the troubles that the ASA has brought upon itself, other academic associations are considering similar action. The Modern Language Association (MLA) is next in line. In its upcoming conference, the MLA is considering an anti-Israel motion. While not technically a BDS resolution, the MLA’s more narrowly crafted resolution also reflects antipathy towards the Jewish state. Proposers of record: Richard M. Ohmann and Bruce W. Robbin Supporting materials: Click here to see the information provided by the proposers. Whereas Israel has arbitrarily denied academics of Palestinian ethnicity entry into the West Bank and Gaza; Whereas these restrictions violate international conventions on an occupying power’s obligation to protect the right to education; Whereas the U.S. Department of State acknowledges on its Web site that Israel restricts the movements of American citizens of Palestinian descent; Whereas the denials have disrupted instruction, research, and planning at Palestinian universities; Whereas the denials have restricted the academic freedom of scholars and teachers who are U. S. citizens; Be it resolved that the MLA urges the U.S. Department of State to contest Israel’s arbitrary denials of entry to Gaza and the West Bank by U. S. academics who have been invited to teach, confer, or do research at Palestinian universities. At present, the MLA plans to present its members with a one-sided presentation before voting on this politicized, unacademic resolution. In light of the widespread derision, not to mention legal liability, that ASA has brought upon itself, one might hope that other scholarly associations would turn to more fruitful areas of inquiry – perhaps even returning to the scholarly endeavors which they were presumably formed to advance. Update: Georgetown University has informed us that they do not have an institutional membership in the ASA and that they have issued a statement criticizing the ASA’s action. We have heard from Columbia University faculty that both Columbia and Barnard have also issued statements criticizing the ASA’s resolution.