US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

usacbi.org + usacbi@usacbi.org
 
 
 
Organizing Collective:
  April 16, 2019
Rabab Abdulhadi
San Francisco State University USACBI stands firmly with the students, faculty, and staff of Pitzer College
Susan Abulhawa who voted overwhelmingly in Pitzer’s College Council, to suspend Pitzer’s
Author
Ashley Dawson study abroad program with the University of Haifa.
Graduate Center, City University of New
York/Staten Island College, CUNY
Chandni Desai As Pitzer’s College Council recognized in its motion, study abroad programs at
University of Toronto
Nada Elia Israeli Universities cannot be open equally to Pitzer’s own students, given that
Western Washington University Israel’s laws of entry involve discrimination on the basis of race/ancestry and on
Cynthia Franklin
University of Hawai’i at Manoa the basis of Constitutionally protected political speech, specifically and notably
Jess Ghannam
University of California, San Francisco
political speech in support of equality and freedom for Palestinians.
Terri Ginsberg
The American University in Cairo
Salah D. Hassan It is no coincidence that the only two vetoes of democratic governance at
Michigan State University
Remi Kanazi
Pitzer—this 2019 veto of a College Council resolution and a 2017 veto of a
poet, writer, editor Student Senate resolution—are, very much like Israel’s restrictions on entry
Charlotte Kates
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity based on political speech, vetoes that support the Israeli state's oppression of
Network, National Lawyers Guild Palestinians.
John King
Composer/guitarist/violist, composer
‘Free
Palestine’
So too, at a moment when Israel’s prime minister has endorsed annexation of all
David Klein or part of the West Bank, no one can deny that this presidential veto shields
California State University, Northridge
Michael Letwin Israel from the non-violent and most effective leverage available to social
Labor for Palestine, Jews for Palestinian
Right of Return
justice allies to expand the possibility for a positive peace—to use Reverend
David Lloyd King’s term—for Jewish Israelis and Palestinians alike. That leverage is
University of California, Riverside
Sunaina Maira
comprised of actions that suspend business as usual with Israel and its complicit
University of California, Davis institutions, until Israel desists in its oppression of Palestinians and adheres to
Sean Malloy
University of California, Merced international law.
Rima Najjar Merriman
Al-Quds University
Adam Miyashiro Prior to the two vetoes protecting Israeli state oppression of Palestinians, Pitzer
Stockton University
Bill Mullen College had a deservedly excellent reputation for its principled and often
Purdue University courageous commitment to social justice. In the 1970s, Pitzer was the only
David Palumbo-Liu
Stanford University member of the Claremont Consortium that did not condemn the hiring, by the
Julie Rak
University of Alberta
intercollegiate Black Studies program, of the great social justice hero, Angela
Russell Rickford Davis. Pitzer was also one of the first Colleges to drop requiring applicants to
Cornell University
Jordy Rosenberg submit SAT scores, recognizing that these standardized tests were and remain
University of Massachusetts
Andrew Ross
racially biased. Pitzer, again, was one of the few colleges in the US to end its
New York University relationship with ROTC in the 1990s, precisely because entry to the ROTC
Steven Salaita
Independent Scholar
program discriminated against queer, lesbian, and gay Pitzer students. Finally
C. Heike Schotten and most recently, Pitzer was the very first nationally prestigious institution of
University of Massachussetts, Boston
Malini Schueller higher education to divest from fossil fuels.
University of Florida
Snehal Shingavi
University of Texas, Austin Yet, today, following this veto of the College Council motion, the Pitzer
Neferti Tadiar
Barnard College administration has betrayed the college's commitment to social justice. Pitzer
Robert Trivers now resembles the many institutions of higher education for which boasts of
Biosocial Research Foundation
Craig Willse commitments to social responsibility and social justice are nothing more than
George Mason University
marketing ploys. Should he fail to rescind it, the president’s veto of the motion
to suspend the Haifa program significantly damages Pitzer College's reputation
and record.
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Pitzer’s College Council resolution to suspend its study abroad program at the University of
Haifa is consistent with the principles promoted by USACBI’s Study Abroad in Israel boycott
campaign, which includes a pledge taken by faculty across the United States to uphold the
academic boycott of Israel by refusing participation in Study Abroad programs in Israel.
USACBI has called for this national campaign to boycott Study Abroad in Israel programs until
Israel respects the rights of Palestinians under international law, including the right to
education.

We commend the Pitzer students, faculty and staff of Pitzer’s College Council who have acted
in principled support for a right to education free of discrimination. We urge Pitzer’s president
to rescind his undemocratic veto or resign his position.

USACBI Organizing Collective

-- and --

Chandler Davis, USACBI Advisory Board and Professor Emeritus, Mathematics, University of
Toronto

Richard Falk, USACBI Advisory Board, and Distinguished Research Fellow, Orfalea Center,
UCSB

Robin D. G. Kelley, USACBI Advisory Board, and Gary B. Nash Professor of American
History at UCLA

Jasbir Puar, USACBI Advisory Board, and Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Rutgers
University

Cornel West, Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University