President Clayton Spencer’s statement on the boycott of Israeli academic institutions

On behalf of Bates College, I reject unequivocally the boycott of Israeli universities that was recently passed by a majority of the members of the American Studies Association (ASA). Academic boycotts strike at the heart of academic freedom and threaten the principles of dialogue, scholarly interchange, and open debate that are the lifeblood of the academy and civil society. Bates does not hold an institutional membership in ASA, and recognizes the rights of individual faculty members to make their own decisions regarding participation in academic associations.