Schools

Maryland Universities Protest Israel Boycott

UMBC leaders called the boycott "inconsistent with the tenets of academic freedom."

The University of MarylandJohns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, joined a group of other U.S. universities in opposing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions announced by the American Studies Association this week, reports the Baltimore Sun.

The association, a group of about 5,000 American history and culture professors and scholars, said the boycott is aimed at Israeli policies infringing on human rights and the educational freedoms of Palestinians. Two thirds of the 1,252 members who voted on the resolution supported the boycott.

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh and Provost Mary Ann Rankin called the boycott "a break of the principle of academic freedom" in a joint statement, the newspaper says.

Find out what's happening in Westminsterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Johns Hopkins President Ronald Daniels and Provost Robert Lieberman sent a similar statement to students, faculty and staff.

"Johns Hopkins stands for the belief that we will advance the human condition through dialogue rather than isolation, and the dissemination of knowledge rather than its restriction," they said in the newspaper story. 

Find out what's happening in Westminsterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Read the full story on the Baltimore Sun website.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here