September 30, 2018
Dear President Schlissel,
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. While the response reiterates your own publicly-stated opposition to the academic boycott of Israel, it says nothing about the measures you will take to ensure that U-M faculty like Professor Cheney-Lippold will be prohibited from implementing the academic boycott in ways that directly harm students who want to travel to or study about Israel.
Our concerns extend well beyond this incident or this professor, who has actually reiterated his strong support for the academic boycott of Israel and suggested that he will continue to implement its guidelines. As we have pointed out, there are more than two dozen U-M professors who have expressed public support for the academic boycott and may well choose to similarly impede the educational opportunities of their students. In addition, in light of the recent statement from 10 academic leaders of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel calling on faculty across the country to "applaud Cheney-Lippold’s courage” and sign an online pledge expressing commitment to refusing to participate in Study Abroad in Israel programs, it is clear that the University’s response and statements to date are insufficient to prevent faculty from engaging in behaviors that will hurt many students on your campus.
It is time to specifically state that such faculty behavior will not be permitted at U-M, to publicly affirm your commitment to guaranteeing that no U-M student will be impeded from studying about or in Israel, and to detail the steps you will take to ensure that faculty do not implement the academic boycott of Israel at the University of Michigan. In the absence of substantive steps such as these, your emphatic opposition to the academic boycott of Israel will do nothing to protect the academic and civil rights of students at your university.
Sincerely,
Academic Council for Israel
Accuracy in Academia
Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity (AEPi)
Alums for Campus Fairness - National
Alums for Campus Fairness - Swarthmore
Alums for Campus Fairness - UC Davis
Alums for Campus Fairness - UC Riverside
Alums for Campus Fairness - UCLA
AMCHA Initiative
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
American Institute for Jewish Research
American Truth Project
Americans for Peace and Tolerance
Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)
BEAR: Bias Education, Advocacy & Resources
Campus Anti-Semitism Task Force of the North Shore
Center for Righteousness and Integrity
Christians and Jews United for Israel
Club Z
Coalition for Jewish Values
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)
CUFI on Campus
Davis Faculty for Israel
Eagles Wings
Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET)
Hasbara Fellowships
Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel
Iranian American Jewish Federation
Iranian Jewish Women’s Organization
Israel Matters
Israel Peace Initiative (IPI)
Israeli-American Civic Education Institute
JAM
Middle East Forum
Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN)
National Conference on Jewish Affairs
National Council of Young Israel
NCSY
NH4Israel
Proclaiming Justice to the Nations
Religious Zionists of America
Rhode Island Coalition for Israel
Russian Jewish Community Foundation
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Simon Wiesenthal Center
StandWithUs
Stop BDS on Campus
Students and Parents Against Campus Anti-Semitism
Students Supporting Israel National
Students Supporting Israel at Columbia
Students Supporting Israel at UCLA
The Israel Christian Nexus
The Lawfare Project
Tufts Friends of Israel
World Jewish Congress, American Section
Zioness Movement
Zionist Organization of America
ZOA’s Fuel for Truth