Statement by Trinity College on Academic Boycott of Israel

TO THE IMMEDIATE ATTENTION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION:

Our Dean of the Faculty, Thomas Mitzel, and I wish to go on record renouncing the boycott of Israel on the part of the ASA.  Trinity once years back was an institutional member (we were then advertizing for an open position), and apparently some members of our faculty are individual members.  Were we still an institutional member, we would not be any longer after the misguided and unprincipled announcement of the boycott of the only democracy in the Middle East.  The Dean and I oppose academic boycotts in general because they can so easily encroach upon academic freedom.  In this strange case, why the ASA would propose an academic boycott of Israel and not, for example, of Syria, the Sudan, North Korea, China, Iran, Iraq, or Russia escapes rational thought.  Trinity has participated in the Rescue Scholar program since its inception;  we have welcomed scholars from some of the most repressive countries on the planet, and it is inconceivable to us that we would ever be welcoming a Rescue Scholar fleeing Israel for political reasons.

As President of the ASA, you have tarnished a once distinguished association.

James F. Jones, Jr.

President and Trinity College Professor
in the Humanities