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A Response At U-M Th at Is Not A Response
A
n associate professor in the
American Culture program at the
University of Michigan refused
to write a recommendation for a stu-
dent, Abigail Ingber,
who seeks to study in
Tel Aviv. John Cheney-
Lippold informed the
student, to whom he
had said he would
write on her behalf,
and whom he told he
would be happy to
Kenneth Waltzer
write for study in other
countries, that “many
university departments
have pledged an academic boycott against
Israel in support of Palestinians living in
Palestine.” He explained that “for reasons
of these politics, I must rescind my offer to
write your letter.”
Cheney-Lippold’s email to the student
went viral over the internet, and phone
calls and emails started coming into
University of Michigan administrative
offices expressing concern about dis-
crimination and the imposition of faculty
politics on a student seeking a recom-
mendation to study in Israel.
Chair Alex Stern of the American
Culture department at U-M, in which
Cheney-Lippold is assigned and teaches,
told me over the weekend that there had
not been a departmental embrace of BDS,
and she “took the incident seriously and
was looking into it.”
Cheney-Lippold further clarified to
the Michigan Daily Tuesday that he was
mistaken about his claim that many
departments had taken stands and said
that his refusal to write was instead a
“personal stance.”
He said: “I was following a call by rep-
resentatives of Palestinian civil society
to boycott Israel in a very similar tactical
frame as South Africa. The idea is that I
support communities who organize them-
selves and ask for international support to
achieve equal rights, freedom and to pre-
vent violations of international law.”
Nearly word for word, Cheney-Lippold
recited the stock BDS rationale for boy-
cott, seeing nothing wrong at all in par-
celing out his faculty service by a policy
of discriminatory exclusion of students
interested in study in Israel. Nor did he see
anything wrong in doing so in an institu-
tion that is firmly on record as opposed
to boycott because the boycott violates
central university values. President Mary
Coleman and Provost Martha Pollack
stated in 2013 that “academic boycotts
violate the principles of academic free-
dom and freedom of speech, which are
fundamental to our missions of education
and research.”
On Monday, Sept. 17, in response to
the stepped-up pressure, the University
of Michigan released a statement once
again affirming its opposition to the
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
(BDS) movement. “The University of
Michigan has consistently opposed any
boycott of Israeli institutions of higher
education,” the statement read, referring
to the statements the president and pro-
vost made in 2013 and also to another
statement by members of the university’s
governing board offered in 2017.
“No academic department or any other
unit at the University of Michigan has
taken a position that departs from this
long-held university position,” the state-
ment continued.
Contributing Writers:
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S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam
Finkel, Stacy Gittleman, Stacy Goldberg, Judy
Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss
Ingber, Allison Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz,
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But then the statement lost its purpose-
fulness and force.
“The academic goals of our students are
of paramount importance,” the statement
said. “It is the university’s position to take
all steps necessary to make sure our stu-
dents are supported.”
But the kicker: “It is disappointing that
a faculty member would allow their (sic)
personal political beliefs to limit the sup-
port they are willing to otherwise provide
for our students.”
Only disappointing? Just disappointing?
The remedy? “We will engage our faculty
colleagues in deep discussions to clarify
how the expression of our shared values
plays out in support of all students.”
The remedy is that we will talk
amongst ourselves about it. We will “clar-
ify how the expression of our shared val-
ues plays out in support of all students.”
This response is not a response, at least
not a satisfactory one. A proper response
would involve the pointed condemnation
of behavior that violates standards of fac-
ulty professionalism.
In our view, the University of Michigan
ought to be more than disappointed in
addressing this revelation that at least one
U-M faculty member is carrying out his
own personal boycott. University leaders
from the chair of American Culture to the
current president and provost ought to
condemn such activities, and they ought
to begin an investigation whether similar
de facto or stealth boycott behavior is
occurring in other units. University per-
sonnel can interview and survey faculty
and also interview students, asking if oth-
ers have had similar experiences.
No faculty academic freedom exists to
deny services to students on a discrimi-
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natory basis; this goes to the matter of
faculty responsibility (to treat all students
equitably and fairly) and to the ethics of
faculty professionalism.
A quick look at U-M’s Professional
Standards for Faculty indicates that the
university will not tolerate conduct that
hinders other members of the community
in the exercise of their academic free-
doms. The university is also prepared to
act to prevent or remedy behaviors that
interfere with, or adversely affect, a com-
munity member’s ability to learn. So how
will the university act?
Cheney-Lippold’s action clearly aimed
at adversely affecting the student’s oppor-
tunity to learn in Israel as part of her cur-
riculum. We call on U-M to investigate the
extent of de facto boycott activities being
conducted by faculty in the university and
to address the question related to stan-
dards of faculty professionalism and what
should be the penalty for those who act to
create a hostile environment for students
seeking to study in Israel.
It is bad enough faculty can seemingly
impose their politics at will in their rela-
tions with students. It is even worse that it
appears to be without any accompanying
penalty. The results of the investigation
should be publicized and the outcome
of the exploration of professional ethics
should be clarified. •
Kenneth Waltzer is former director of Jewish
Studies at Michigan State University and a pro-
gressive opponent of the Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions movement. He a historian of the
Holocaust completing a book on the rescue of
children and youths at Buchenwald. He currently
directs the Academic Engagement Network. Read
the news story about this incident on page 18.
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