Zionist Support Grows
More campus presidents oppose
boycotting Israel.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
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18
August 23
2007
.114
R
esponding to inquiries
from the Detroit Jewish
News, the presidents of
Central Michigan University in
Mount Pleasant, Oakland University
in Rochester Hills and Kalamazoo
College and Western Michigan
University, both in Kalamazoo, went
on the record opposing Great Britain's
University and College Union pro-
posed boycott of Israeli scholars and
academic institutions.
President Les Wong of Northern
Michigan University in Marquette
responded via e-mail from an assis-
tant that he "does not choose to take a
stand in either direction."
None of the presidents had signed
on to a full-page ad in the Aug. 8
issue of the New York Times. The ad
was signed by 286 of their colleagues
including the presidents of these
schools in Michigan: Baker College,
Hillsdale College, Michigan State
University, University of Michigan,
Wayne State University. Since that
time, 54 more college and university
presidents have signed on.
Sponsored by the American Jewish
Committee, the ad listed endorsers of
a statement from Columbia University
President Lee Bollinger — a former
U-M president — opposing the boy-
cott, lauding relations with Israeli
universities and calling on the Union
to boycott Columbia if they decide to
boycott Israel.
While each of the four Michigan-
based presidents opposing the boy-
cott was happy to do so, there was a
reticence to sign on to the Bollinger
statement. It seemed the problem lay
in that Bollinger called for a boycott to
be applied to his campus if Israel was
boycotted. That was a step some presi-
dents wouldn't take without involving
students and faculty and analyzing the
impact it would have on their campus.
At least two of the presidents had spent
much of the summer traveling on cam-
pus business and had not seen the let-
ter in time to share their concerns with
Bollinger or those circulating it.
Typical was the opinion expressed
by Steven Smith, CMU's Media
Relations director on behalf of
President Michael Rao.
"Conceptually, we are in complete
agreement with the concept. Banning
anyone is a huge mistake and even a
danger:' Smith said. "But we are also
sensitive to the wording of the state-
ment as submitted and we are uncom-
fortable with the way it was expressed
and certain verbiage."
Oakland University President Gary
Russi responded to the Michigan AJC
office with a letter on July 12 writing
that boycott "efforts are discriminatory
and contradict the fundamental values
of higher education ... To stifle the
exchange of scholarly ideas and the
opinion of others would be detrimen-
tal for not only Israeli academics, but
also everyone."
Cheryl Roland, principal spokesper-
son at Western Michigan University,
explained that President John Dunn
had only just assumed the presi-
dency of WMU in July and he had not
seen the request to sign on. Calling
it a "logistical issue Roland wrote
"because we are an inclusive universi-
ty and, as such, are in agreement with
the intent of the letter, Dr. Dunn feels
strongly that he and WMU should be
viewed as among the signatories."
The list of new signers is at
www.ajc.org.
President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran
of Kalamazoo College was the most
willing to outline her concerns about
Bollinger statement. While saying that
she hopes "that after a thorough dis-
cussion of the ideas, this faculty union
would recognize that such a boycott is
antithetical to the mission of higher
education," she noted that the union
discussing a boycott had not yet called
for one, and that even if it did, it might
not be enacted since it is "not the gov-
ernance authority of any institution of
higher education in Britain."
"For these reasons, many college
presidents, including myself, found
the letter, which appeared in the
New York Times, premature Wilson-
Oyelaran said. "I am also concerned
that President Bollinger's letter, which
responds to a proposed boycott with
a request that the boycott be extended
to our campuses, appears quite con-
tradictory. At Kalamazoo College, we
remain committed to act in a manner
that encourages dialog." II