Forum - Thursday, August 23, 2007 @ 07:00
Re: the story "Queen's backs principal" (Aug. 18).

Queen's University Principal Karen Hitchcock's unilateralism in endorsing a campaign waged by pro-Israel groups and some American universities to oppose a proposed boycott of Israeli universities is a mistake. It contradicts the values of academic freedom that she is so much concerned about.

Had Principal Hitchcock taken the time to study the situation of Palestinian universities under Israeli occupation and the complicity through silence or inaction of Israeli academic and other institutions in furthering the suppression of Palestinian academic freedom and the right to education, she would have realized the following:

First, Palestinian higher education in the West Bank and Gaza has been systematically strangled over the years by Israeli military occupation. Because of closures, roadblocks and curfews, Palestinian students are unable to move freely and pursue their academic goals. In particular, students from Gaza are barred from attending other universities in the West Bank. Moreover, recently Palestinian students who have been admitted to institutions of higher education abroad have been denied exit permits by the occupation authorities. And it is not uncommon for Israeli soldiers to raid the classrooms of colleges and universities in the West Bank and Gaza and arrest students and faculty members.

Second, the Israeli military has recently instituted draconian measures in contravention of the Geneva Convention governing occupied territories, by denying faculty members who are long-time residents

of the territories the right to remain as residents and resume their teaching duties. Throughout all this, Israeli academic and other Western institutions have been silent, thus endorsing the horrors that are perpetrated on a regular basis in Palestinian academic institutions.

Third, the resolution of the British Union of Colleges and Universities that irked Principal Hitchcock and other like-minded peoples calls for debating the issue of a boycott. Here is the crucial component of the resolution, which I doubt has been read by those lobbying against it. In part, the resolution "encourages members to consider the moral implications and proposed links with Israeli academic institutions" and calls for considering "appropriate forms of action." It calls for debating the issue.

The idea that controversial issues should be debated locally and nationally is the sine qua non of the academy. This is what freedom of speech is about. Principal Hitchcock's unilateralism is misplaced. Let us have a conversation about this issue before a university-wide audience, to which the public should be invited.

Finally, let me say that it is the duty of a university that is worthy of its name to reach out and lend a hand to other academic institutions under distress. Queen's University did just that a few years back when it signed an agreement with Bethlehem University calling for an exchange of faculty and students. Nothing came of this agreement, which I personally delivered to Bethlehem University. I suspect this was due to the dire circumstances facing Palestinian universities in general. The time has come to dust off the agreement and send Principal Hitchcock on a peace mission to the West Bank so that she could explore the situation first hand.

Elia Zureik is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Queen's University, where he has been teaching since 1971. He is the author and editor of several books and numerous articles on the Middle East and the application of information and communication technology to society in general. Currently he is working on the role of information and communication technology in Middle-East nation-building, with special reference to Palestine. His work as a teacher and researcher has taken him often to the Middle East where he has been a direct observer and analyst of the crucial events of the last thirty years.

He is a founder of NECEF and a long time colleague of Jim Graff. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of NECEF since its inception in 1984 and Chairman from 2003 to 2005. He remains a friend and supporter of NECEF.

Queen's principal too quick to take sides on academic boycott

“The idea that controversial issues should be debated locally and nationally is the sine qua non of the academy. This is what freedom of speech is about. Principal Hitchcock's unilateralism is misplaced.”

NECEF Report Fall 2007

By Prof. Elia Zureik

Elia Zureik