[Linganth] Supporting change at the AAA

[Alexander M. Thomson]

Thank you for sending this out! Can someone remind me though why the AAA as
a scientific and professional body feels compelled to take moral &
political stances (e.g. boycotts) in the first place?

On Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 8:47 AM Elise Berman <eberman at charlotte.edu> wrote:

> Dear SLA members:
>
>
> Below you will see a letter asking you to support a change in by-laws of
> the AAA.  The changes proposed are below as is a brief rationale for
> them, and a link to sign.  This move is in response to the recent vote by
> the AAA to boycott and sanction universities in Israel. Especially in light
> of recent events, I hope that you might follow the link, sign the petition,
> and support the organization considering this change in the AAA by-laws.
>
>
>
> Very best wishes
> Elise Berman (incoming linguistics seat on the AAA nominations committee)
>
>
>
>
> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>
>
>
> Dear Friends and Colleagues,
>
> As you know, the AAA membership recently voted to boycott and sanction
> universities in a single nation, Israel. Arguments against the boycott of
> any academic institutions were previously posted on the AAA website.
> Anthropology as a discipline was founded on the commitment to promoting
> understanding and communication across cultural boundaries. Academic
> boycotts violate this basic principle.
>
>
>
> To address this concern, a next step is to launch an effort to amend the
> By-Laws of the AAA to prohibit any academic boycotts by the American
> Anthropological Association (Article I, Section 1). This amendment to the
> AAA By-Laws will reflect a commitment to the free exchange of ideas among
> academics, which is core to the discipline of Anthropology.
>
> In order for there to be a full AAA membership vote to amend the AAA
> By-Laws, 250 signatures from AAA members are required. Please visit the
> following website to endorse a vote on the proposed amendment (
> https://forms.gle/5p7CDmZTCujMBbzU6).
>
>
>
> If you sign this document, and 250 signatures are received, it will come
> to a vote of the broader AAA membership. At that point, all AAA members
> will have the opportunity to vote on the proposed new By-Law.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, Carleton College
>
> Aliya Glatt, University of California Los Angeles
>
> Harvey E. Goldberg, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
>
> Alma Gottlieb, University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign and Brown
> University
>
> Sergei Kan, Dartmouth College
>
> Melvin Konner, Emory University
>
> Jill E. Korbin, Case Western Reserve University
>
> Robert Lemelson, University of California Los Angeles
>
> Fran Markowitz, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
>
> David M. Rosen, Farleigh Dickenson University
>
> Cynthia Saltzman, Rutgers University-Camden
>
> Richard A. Shweder, University of Chicago
>
>
>
> ***************************************************
>
> Proposed New AAA By-Law against Academic Boycotts:
>
> “AAA is an academic and professional association and a community of
> scholars who support open inquiry, free speech, and the unrestricted
> exchange of ideas on a global scale. In furtherance of our commitment to
> academic freedom, the
>
> American Anthropological Association opposes and does not participate in
> academic boycotts."
>
>
>
> ****************************************************
>
> Rationale for the New AAA By-Law:
>
> The American Anthropological Association should uphold the sanctity of the
> principle of academic freedom that enables and protects the ability of
> scholars to write, teach, and pursue research. This right must be protected
> by recognizing that academic boycotts pose a threat not only to
> institutions, but to the students, scholars, and staff who work there and
> who are the lifeblood of universities. Where governments or institutions
> engage in unethical practices, including limiting academic freedom of their
> own students and faculty, those policies and truths should be exposed and
> critiqued, especially by scholars with regional expertise. Nonetheless, the
> AAA should not formally endorse a broad academic boycott of these
> institutions, whose human capital would be directly affected. Instead, in
> accord with the principles of academic freedom and open inquiry, the AAA
> should support open lines of communication, the free exchange of ideas, and
> a diversity of viewpoints among scholars globally.
>
>
>
> As the AAUP has stated, “The form that noncooperation with an academic
> institution takes inevitably involves a refusal to engage in academic
> discourse with teachers and researchers, not all of whom are complicit in
> the policies that are being protested. Moreover, an academic boycott can
> compound a regime’s suppression of freedoms by cutting off contacts with an
> institution’s or a country’s academics. In addition, the academic boycott
> is usually at least once removed from the real target. Rarely are
> individuals or even individual institutions the issue. What is being sought
> is a change in state policy. The issue, then, is whether those faculty or
> ideas that could contribute to changing state policy are harmed when
> communication with outside academic institutions is cut off and how to
> weigh that harm against the possible political gains the pressure of an
> academic boycott might secure.”
>
>
>
> The AAUP argued that the continued exchange of faculty, students, and
> ideas is more conducive to academic freedom in the long run than is an
> academic boycott. This freedom is what we share and treasure as academics,
> beyond specific ideologies or political views we might espouse as
> individuals. In accord with this rationale, a new By-law stating that the
> AAA does not endorse academic boycotts is warranted and necessary.
>
>
>
> We invite you to vote in favor of this new addition to the AAA By-laws.
>
>
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