Letters & Statements

The expansion to include apprenticeship students, homeschoolers, and approved educational expenses is greatly needed and warrented.

We especially appreciate your unequivocal declaration that an academic boycott of Israel “poses a direct
and serious threat to the academic freedom of our students and faculty, as well the unfettered
exchange of ideas and perspectives on our campuses, including debate and discourse regarding conflicts
in the Middle East.”

We are writing to urge you to sign the University Leaders Statement Against the Implementation of an Academic Boycott of Israel.

The Pitzer Faculty’s attempt to implement an academic boycott of Israel that subverts the educational opportunities and academic freedom of their own students and colleagues, is reprehensible. Pitzer faculty members have abrogated their most basic professional responsibility – to promote the academic welfare of their students.

We received the university’s response to the letter our 58 organizations sent you, and we are deeply disappointed that it failed to address our serious concerns, which are shared by hundreds of thousands of our members and supporters.

When faculty like Prof. Cheney-Lippold go as far as implementing the boycott’s guidelines by taking action to suppress students’ ability to travel to or study about Israel, they have abrogated the most basic professorial responsibility of promoting the academic welfare of their students.

One need be neither Jewish nor particularly religious to find something deeply unsettling, even unseemly, in a Rabbi wasting the special opportunity to uplift his congregation at such an auspicious hour, to instead engage in a shameful personal attack on a former congregant.

In the current environment, it takes courage to boldly and clearly state this simple truth. The members of CUFI demonstrate boldness and strength of character as they stand up against bigotry in all its forms.

This is a contextual translation of the statement of 250 rabbis regarding LGBT marches and surrogacy of same-gender couples which recently attracted media attention in Israel, and was the topic of our recent press release.

North American Federation leaders will have a special opportunity to engage in a dialogue with their Israeli counterparts. But perhaps instead of merely saying “We Need to Talk,” should not the Federations recognize that they still more urgently need to listen?