Nearly 50 New York legislators are sponsoring revised legislation to prohibit universities from using state aid to fund or join the American Studies Association because of the group’s decision to boycott Israeli universities.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, sponsor of the legislation, said in a memo that “academic boycotts, particularly those that are discriminatory, violate the principles of academic freedom.”
The legislation doesn’t name the 5,000-member association, whose members endorsed an academic boycott of Israeli universities, saying they are complicit in Israel’s discrimination against Palestinian students and scholars who are denied academic freedom.
A previous bill would have cut off state aid to schools participating in the association.
Critics including the American Association of University Professors say the legislation threatens academic free speech.
(AP)
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One Response
So the American Studies Association, which tries to stifle free speech through its boycott, is complaining about the NY State Legislature stifling free speech? What goes around comes around!