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U-M HILLEL

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Cherie Brown, founder and CEO of the National Coalition Building Institute in Silver Spring, Md., conducted an anti-Semitism training at U-M Hillel early this year.

U

John Cheney-
Lippold

niversity of Michigan officials,
administrators, students and alumni
reacted with criticism to Professor
John Cheney-Lippold’s decision to rescind
an offer to write a letter of recommendation
for a study abroad program when he real-
ized the student wanted to study in Israel.
Cheney-Lippold sent undergraduate
Abigail Ingber of Warren, N.J., the following
email:

Israel Bias

U-M professor criticized for refusal to write
recommendation letter for study in Israel.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Dear Abigail,
I am very sorry, but I only scanned your
first email a couple weeks ago and missed out
on a key detail:
As you may know, many university depart-
ments have pledged an academic boycott
against Israel in support of the Palestinians
living in Palestine. This boycott includes writ-
ing letters of recommendation for students
planning to study there.
“I should have let you know earlier, and
for that I apologize. But for reasons of these
politics, I must rescind my offer to write your
letter.”
The email went on to say he would “be
happy” to “write other letters” for Ingber.
Cheney-Lippold’s email went viral after
Club Z, a California-based Zionist organiza-

tion that trains and educates teens to advo-
cate for Israel, posted a screenshot of the full
text of the email on social media.
Many members of a U-M parents’
Facebook group expressed their outrage that
the professor allowed his political beliefs
to compromise his teaching role. On the
website change.org, they are petitioning U-M
President Mark Schlissel to sack the profes-
sor for his action. At press time, about 2,400
supporters have signed.
According to The
University Record, a news-
letter for U-M faculty and
staff, Schlissel said at the
Sept. 20 Board of Regents
meeting that the faculty
member’s view does not
reflect the position of the
university nor any depart-
Mark Schlissel
ment or unit on campus.
“We are a large and diverse public uni-
versity, and the individual opinions of our
community range widely on many issues,”
Schlissel said. “But personal views and poli-
tics should never interfere with our support
of students. It is counter to our values and
expectations as an institution.”
Schlissel said he, along with the Board of
Regents and the university’s executive offi-
cers, has been deeply engaged in the matter
and will take appropriate steps to address
the issue and the broader questions it has
raised.
Rick Fitzgerald, U-M assistant vice presi-
dent for public affairs, told the JN he could
not comment on what or any actions may
be taken against Cheney-Lippold, who will
be taking a previously planned leave for the
winter semester of 2019.
U-M Regent Andrea Fischer Newman
provided a timeline of events. She said
Ingber asked for the letter in August.
Cheney-Lippold’s tenure was approved on
Sept 1. He wrote the refusal email on Sept.

5. Cheney-Lippold teaches
and writes on the relation-
ship between digital media,
identity and the concept of
privacy in the Department
of American Culture in
the School of Literature,
Science and Arts.
In March 2014, Cheney-
Andrea Fischer
Lippold
signed a petition
Newman
with 31 U-M professors,
including 15 in his department, in favor of
the university academically boycotting Israel
as part of #UMDivest. This campus move-
ment calls for the U-M Board of Regents
to create a committee to investigate three
companies operating in Israel and involved
in alleged human rights violations against
Palestinians.
In January 2017, Michigan Gov. Rick
Snyder signed a law that bans a boycott of a
foreign state by individuals or public entities,
though it made no direct mention of Israel
or the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)
movement.
In December 2017, the U-M Board
of Regents rejected a Central Student
Government resolution to form a commit-
tee to investigate divesting the university’s
endowment from certain companies alleged
to commit human rights violations against
Palestinians.
When the JN asked Cheney-Lippold by
email if he would refuse to give a student a
letter of recommendation if they chose to
study in other countries where U-M offers
study abroad programs, like China, Russia
or Jordan or the Palestinian territories, for
example, he replied:
“If those countries enacted a system that
treated one group as second-class citi-
zens, enshrined that inequality into their
Constitution and civil society in those coun-
tries asked for international support, then
yes. I support all calls for equality and end

continued on page 20

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September 27 • 2018

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