EclectEcon

Economics and the mid-life crisis have much in common: Both dwell on foregone opportunities

C'est la vie; c'est la guerre; c'est la pomme de terre . . . . . . . . . . . . . email: jpalmer at uwo dot ca


. . . . . . . . . . .Richard Posner should be awarded the next Nobel Prize in Economics . . . . . . . . . . . .

Friday, April 22, 2005

Disgusting Anti-semitic Challenges to Intellectual Freedom

An academic group in the UK has voted to boycott two Israeli universities.

Members of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) decided to suspend all links with Haifa and Bar-Ilan universities.

They were complicit in a system of "apartheid" towards Palestinians, delegates at the AUT's council heard.

The votes, and lack of debate, have been condemned by pro-Israel groups.

I wonder what they have to say about universities in other countries....
e.g. in countries where the rights of women are considerably less than those of men.

At the same time, these clowns did this:

Delegates voted for more dialogue with Palestinian academics and unions.
Right. As if many Palestinians have never had "drive them into the sea" policies and attitudes toward Israel.

[thanks to Anonymous Jake for the link]

Update: More from Jake:

From the BBC article [linked above]:

At the AUT conference, in Eastbourne, Haifa University was accused of mistreating politics lecturer Ilan Pappe for defending a graduate student's research into controversial areas of Israeli history.
His job had been threatened and he had been victimised, delegates in Eastbourne heard.

But from the Jerusalem Post:

Indeed if British academics wished to experience real academic freedom they would be well advised to spend some time at the very campuses with which they wish to sever all ties. These are far from ideologically homogeneous institutions. Indeed many of the most outspoken critics of Israel's struggle to defend itself hail from Israel's own ivory towers...

 
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