Category: Alliance for Academic Freedom

On Excluding Zionists from Campus Groups

This summer, two Jewish undergraduates at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Cassandra Blotner and Ofek Preis, charged in a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that they were expelled from a student group devoted to helping sexual assault survivors because they support Israel, alleging a violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Critique of CUNY Law School’s Anti-Zionist Action

On May 12, 2022, the faculty of the law school at the City University of New York voted unanimously to endorse a controversial and politically charged BDS resolution passed last December by the school’s student government association. The Alliance for Academic Freedom calls on the law school faculty to repeal its endorsement, which threatens academic freedom on two levels.

MESA Chooses BDS Over Academic Freedom

MIDDLE EAST STUDIES ASSOCIATION VIOLATES FUNDAMENTAL ACADEMIC FREEDOM PRINCIPLES WITH BDS ENDORSEMENT The Alliance for Academic Freedom (AAF) condemns the March 24, 2022 vote by

In Defense of Academic Freedom and Against the MESA Resolution

We deplore the vote by the 2021 annual MESA meeting that calls on its members to endorse a comprehensive academic boycott of Israeli universities. The resolution has been submitted to all MESA members for a vote. MESA represents faculty who teach and conduct research on the Middle East and North Africa.

AAF Deplores Anticipated Annexation

The Alliance for Academic Freedom is deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s apparent intention in the near future to unilaterally annex substantial portions of the

We Defend Academic Freedom, Even for Ideological Foes

Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar last week wrote Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to request an investigation into whether University of Arizona programs comply with federal funding requirements. He expressed concern specifically about whether the campus’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) engages in anti-Semitic activities or discrimination.