with Cheney-Lippold’s decision 
not to write the letter, saying 
professors should encourage 
students to explore educational 
opportunities 
without 
the 
influence of personal politics.
“I 
can’t 
speak 
for 
all 
students, but I know that I 
and many others feel hurt by 
this decision,” Coden said. 
“Studying in or visiting Israel 
is an opportunity to immerse 
ourselves in an Israeli culture 
that is different from our own, 
but also a Jewish culture that 
is very familiar and part of our 
own identity. Students should 
not be denied the opportunity 
to experience another culture 
as a result of a professor’s 
political viewpoints.”
University 
Public 
Affairs 
released a statement regarding 
the 
incident, 
reaffirming 
the consistent opposition of 
boycotting Israeli institutions 
of 
higher 
education. 
The 
statement upholds no academic 
department or unit officially 
maintains a boycott.
“It is disappointing that a 
faculty member would allow 
their personal political beliefs 
to limit the support they are 
willing to otherwise provide 
for our students,” the statement 
read. “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.”
Cheney-Lippold 
acknowledged 
his 
mistake 
in 
claiming 
University 

departments 
support 
the 
boycott 
and 
amended 
the 
statement he made in the 
email, saying his support of the 
boycott is a personal stance.
“I 
support 
the 
boycott 
because I support solidarity,” 
he said in an interview with 
The Daily. “I follow the idea 
that people who are being 
discriminated 
against 
or 
people who need help … I 
feel compelled to help them. 
I was following a call by 
representatives 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 themselves and ask 
for international support to 
achieve equal rights, freedom 
and to prevent violations of 
international law.”
Cheney-Lippold affirmed the 
boycott focuses on institutions 
rather than people and stated 
that denying Ingber’s academic 
opportunities should not be in 
question. He confirmed upon 
further contact she did find 
another person to complete the 
letter.
“The perennial claim of anti-
Semitism I fully deny,” Cheney-
Lippold said. “I have no bad 
will against the student, and I 
would have very gladly written 
a letter for any other graduate 
program or study abroad. The 
idea is that I am just one person, 
and by refusing to write that 
letter or at least rescinding it, 
I tried to keep to my conscious 
and to the fact that I believe 
that the boycott is a good tactic 
to enhance human rights and to 
get everyone in Israel-Palestine 
to have what international 
criminal court and the U.N. in 

general has requested, which is 
equal rights for everybody.”
Cheney-Lippold 
also 
said 
he wanted to focus on the 
importance of dialogue within 
the University on this issue as 
well as highlight the student 
organizations on campus who 
are furthering knowledge on 
the issue for the campus and 
upholding diversity of thought.
“As a professor, I’m not 
just a machine writing things 
for people,” he said. “I have 
opinions 
and 
even 
though 
a letter of recommendation 
is about the student, a lot of 
thought goes into them. It’s 
not a blank check where I’m 
signing for them to go to any 
place they want, it is a dialogue. 
It’s 
what 
the 
University 
is 
about, 
talking 
through 
differences and really figuring 
out where each other stands, 
not expecting something or 
assuming something, but really 
trying to get into what is the 
key difference. Seeing what can 
we do more, how can we have a 
larger campus-wide discussion. 
I want to push it beyond the 
horse-race politics of what 
John did or did not say.”
LSA 
junior 
Sophee 
Langerman claimed she fully 
supports 
Cheney-Lippold’s 
decision 
as 
a 
boycott, 
divestment 
and 
sanctions 
activist, but reaffirmed the 
complexity of the issue and 
the diversity of opinion among 
students on campus.
“I believe that this professor 
is 
100 
percent 
correct 
in 
his 
refusal 
of 
writing 
a 
recommendation 
letter 
in 
support of the BDS movement,” 
she said. “A trip to Israeli-
occupied 
Palestine 
would 

mean the support of the mass 
murder 
and 
oppression 
of 
not 
only 
Palestinians, 
but 
Ethiopian 
Jews, 
Mizrahi 
Jews, East-Asian immigrants 
and other non-white minority 
communities. 
BDS 
cannot 
support that. I would also like 
to point out that this professor 
was never under any obligation 
to write this student a letter 
of recommendation, and in 
fact, she got more than most 
students do by receiving a 
reply about why he would not 
participate.”
Langerman 
hopes 
the 
boycott can encourage peaceful 
dialogue 
and 
activism 
for 
students and faculty alike at the 
University.
“As far as I have experienced, 
Jewish 
and 
Palestinian 
communities on campus have 
always had a divide due to the 
rhetoric produced by Zionist 
entities that anything ‘pro-
Palestine’ 
is 
anti-Semitic, 
which is just flat out incorrect,” 
she said. “If anything, I hope 
that this professor’s boycott 
empowers the rest of the 
academic community to take 
a 
stand 
against 
apartheid 
regimes, and brings forth more 
fruitful dialogue surrounding 
the BDS movement – and why 
it is such a crucial form of 
nonviolent activism.”
Ingber told The Michigan 
Daily she is currently unable 
to comment on the incident, as 
she is waiting to discuss it with 
University officials. According 
to Club Z’s Facebook page, they 
did not receive the message 
from Ingber, but rather from 
another University professor to 
whom the email was sent.

2 — Tuesday, September 18, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Creative Director

Faculty debate reclaiming terms with 
A/PIA dept. in community dialogue

University of Michigan stu-
dents and faculty discussed is-
sues of free speech, derogatory 
terms and minority groups’ 
efforts to reclaim these terms 
Monday night at the Harlan 
Hatcher Graduate Library. 
The Asian/Pacific Islander 
American Studies Department 
and student group WeListen 
hosted the event, which used 
the example of The Slants 
— an Asian-American rock 
band who went to the U.S. 
Supreme Court to trademark 
their name — as a starting 
point for the presentations 
and 
WeListen 
discussion.
Last week, the A/PIA De-
partment invited The Slants 
to campus for a concert and 
a keynote lecture discussing 
their case. The Slants band 
name originated as an attempt 
to reclaim the derogatory term 
for the A/PIA community. 

Their trademark was rejected 
in 2010, but after years of le-
gal battle, the Supreme Court 
ruled the government could not 
deny trademark protection to 
names considered derogatory.
Five University faculty mem-
bers spoke on the topic, in-
cluding a free speech and hate 
speech specialist from the Law 
School and several ethnic stud-
ies professors. John Kuwada, di-
rector of A/PIA studies, said he 
reached out to faculty with di-
verse backgrounds and research 
interests to speak at the event.
“I asked faculty who had 
quite a bit of experience with 
this idea and I tried to cover 
the whole wide range,” Kuwada 
said. “There’s a lot of slurs out 
there. These things are very 
nuanced and very complex.”
Former 
A/PIA 
Director 
Amy Stillman also spoke on 
The Slants case, showcasing a 
quote from lead singer Simon 
Tam about why he chose the 
band name. He wanted to use 

LETTER
From Page 1

LIZZY LAWRENCE
Daily Staff Reporter

See RECLAIMING, Page 3

