To: dbobbitt@uark.edu, Chancellor@uark.edu, sgaber@uark.edu

From: myadmon@uark.edu

Subject: U of A's stance on ASA's Academic Boycott of Israel

Date: December 27, 2013

_____________________________________________________

Dear President Bobbitt, Chancellor Gearhart, and Provost Gaber,

I am an American / Israeli student in the newly established accelerated JD program for foreign law

graduates at the University of Arkansas School of Law. I am also the founder and president of the

Jewish Law Students Association, and the incoming president of Hillel - The Foundation for

Jewish Campus Life, both of which are registered student organizations.

This past week the the American Studies Association (ASA), the "nation’s oldest and largest

association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history", voted to place

an academic boycott on Israel. This was the first ever boycott the ASA has enacted in its 62 year

history, motivated purely from bias against Israel, emanating from, frankly, deep seated

antisemitism.

Michael Roth, President of Wesleyan University, called this boycott a "repugnant attack on

academic freedom." As of today, 62 US Universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton,

Brown, Cornell, the University of Chicago, NYU, and the University of Texas - Austin, have

rejected ASA's boycott. A full list can be found here:

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/12/list-of-universities-rejecting-academic-boycott-of-israel/.

(As of 1/1/14 this list has expanded to 92 universities:

http://www.jpost.com/International/92-universities-reject-academic-boycott-of-Israel-336771)

Additionally, four universities - Brandeis University, Penn State Harrisburg, Indiana University

and Kenyon College - have withdrawn their membership from the ASA in protest.

I write you to request that our university show solidarity with Israel by taking the stance of these

other fine US institutions against the ASA's shameful and bigoted boycott, in the same courageous

spirit of Chancellor Gearhart when he signed a petition several years ago stating "if you boycott

Israel, you boycott us, too."

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As you must be well aware, Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. It is a nation

nearly 1/7 the area of Arkansas, populated by roughly six million Jews - the same number

exterminated by the Nazis, surrounded by enemies, on the constant brink of war, under the constant

threat of annihilation, and the only nation on earth whose very right to exist is continually

questioned in the global political arena.

Nevertheless, in the face of all these immense existential pressures and adversities, Israel is a

mighty force of scientific and cultural progress on a global scale. The following are just a few

statistics:

● Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees per capita in the world.

● Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation in the world.

● Israel has the highest number of scientists per capita in the world.

● Israel has the highest number of engineers per capita in the world.

● Israel has the highest number of PhD's per capita in the world.

● Israel has the highest number of physicians per capita in the world.

● Israel has more patents, startups and research centers per capita than any other nation.

● Israel has more book published per capita than any other nation.

● Israel has more museums per capita than any other nation.

● Israel is a cultural diamond, contributing immensely to global culture, the visual arts,

music, literature etc.

● In 65 years of statehood, Israelis were awarded 12 Nobel Prizes, including two in 2013.

● Israel is on the front-line of international aid, including sending relief to New Orleans

post Hurricane Katrina, to the city of Moore, Oklahoma after the devastating tornado of

2013, sending medical field hospitals and personnel to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake,

to Japan after the 2011 tsunami, to the Philippines after typhoon Haiyan this year, and

continuously treating wounded Syrian refugees feeling their horrific civil war.

An unbiased reasonable person considering such statistics must question what drove the ASA to

impose an academic boycott on Israel, clearly a nation propelling human advancement. If the

basic premise of academia is to advance openness and free thought, how does an academic boycott

of Israeli meet this aim? The answer is, it doesn't. The rationale for this decision becomes even

more suspicious considering that in its 62 years as an organization, the ASA has never boycotted

any other nation besides Israel, turning a blind eye to nations that have committed atrocities against

neighboring countries and their own populations. This point, among others, was lucidly expressed

by Rep. Eliot Engel, the senior Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in

his letter to the President of the ASA, which can be found here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/23/dozens-of-u-s-universities-r

eject-academic-boycott-of-israel/.

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I feel it is imperative that the University of Arkansas, the flagship university of our state and a

nationally lauded research university, take a resolute stance on this issue by siding with Israel and

with academic freedom. Silence on this issue will undermine our legitimacy. Speaking out

against this boycott will send an unwavering message worldwide that we in Arkansas have

resolute principles, and place great value on openness, cooperation, and free thought. In the words

of the great Irish statesman Edmund Burke, "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for

good men to do nothing." As a proud student of the University of Arkansas, I ask that we speak out

and do something.

I hope to hear back from you on this matter soon.

Have a Happy New Year.

Yours Sincerely,

Moshe (Jeff) Admon, B.Eng., B.A., LL.B. (Hons)

J.D. Candidate 2015, University of Arkansas School of Law

Founder, Jewish Law Students Association; President, Hillel

myadmon@uark.edu

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