An academic scandal headed for Chicago
By Amy Stoken and Jack S. Levin
January 1, 2014
Academicians from all over
the world will gather in Chicago for the 129th annual convention of the
30,000-member Modern Language Association. The MLA, according to its
website, provides opportunities for teachers of English and foreign
languages "to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences
with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy."
The four-day convention, starting Jan. 9, features exhibitions,
opportunities for job interviews — and 810 sessions, all but one of
which will address topics connected to the study of language and
literature. The one exception is entitled "Academic Boycotts: A
Conversation about Israel and Palestine." "This roundtable," the MLA
website explains, "addresses the political movement Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions against Israel, seen by its defenders as a viable means
to end the Palestinian occupation."
That the only political session at the MLA targets Israel must appear
strange to the unbiased observer. Anyone familiar with the Middle East
will wonder what is meant by ending "the Palestinian occupation." Does
it refer to Israel's presence on the West Bank? Israel took control of
that area in 1967 in the course of defending itself against an invasion
from the army of Jordan, the country which then ruled the West Bank
territory. For decades Israel has pursued a series of negotiations with
the Palestinian Authority — just as it did, successfully, with Egypt and
Jordan — in hopes of reaching a peace deal to end any Israeli presence
on the West Bank. The latest phase of those Israeli-Palestinian talks,
under U.S. sponsorship, is ongoing even as the MLA prepares to gather in
Chicago.
Or, perhaps, by "occupation"
the conveners of this MLA session mean the very existence of Israel
itself, which, according to some diehard opponents of the Jewish state
has no international legitimacy, even though the United Nations mandated
Israel's creation and admitted Israel to U.N. membership. If that's the
case, this roundtable of academics is simply seeking to dismantle a
U.N. member state.
One would think that an organization dedicated to languages and
literature would value Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East,
where academic freedom is alive and well, a free press flourishes, and
there is no discrimination based on race, religion, sex or sexual
preference. If the MLA wants to pronounce on international politics, why
are there no sessions on countering repressive regimes such as those in
Syria, Iran, Zimbabwe or North Korea, where people, for example, suffer
imprisonment or worse for expressing politically incorrect ideas or
adhering to the wrong faith?
Even worse, this MLA boycott "conversation" doesn't even pretend to
examine both sides of the question. All of the announced speakers are on
record favoring an Israeli boycott. In fact, presiding officer Samer M.
Ali informed The Chronicle of Higher Education that Israel's guilt is
not open to doubt but rather, "(t)he question that panelists will be
debating is not whether Israel is violating the rights of Palestinians,
but what to do about it."
This academic scandal headed for Chicago will not be an isolated
incident, but simply the latest phase in an effort by the Palestinian
Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel to get American
scholarly bodies' help in delegitimizing the Jewish state. The
Association for Asian Studies, the American Studies Association and the
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association — all relatively
small —have endorsed academic boycotts of Israel, and the "conversation"
at the MLA convention is designed as the opening wedge to pry an
endorsement from a larger and mainstream body.
What happened to the concept that academic organizations were
designed to facilitate communication between both educators within a
single country and educators in different countries, rather than to
build walls between groups of educators in pursuit of one or more
perceived political goals?
Thankfully, the boycott movement is opposed by all the responsible
voices in the academy who have spoken. The American Association of
Universities and the American Association of University Professors, as
well as numerous individual scholars, have condemned it as a violation
of academic freedom. Most of our prestigious local academic
institutions, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the
University of Illinois at Chicago, have voiced their rejection of these
academic boycotts. But the battle is far from over.
An alert to fair-minded scholars in every academic field: Don't let your profession become a haven for Israel-bashers.
Amy Stoken is director of the Chicago Regional Office of the American Jewish Committee. Jack
S. Levin is a past president of AJC Chicago and a part-time lecturer at
the University of Chicago and Harvard University law schools.
