I was hoping to see in your last edition some discussion of the British academic boycott of Israeli universities. The key issue here is the protection of academic freedom, which is central to your organization. This boycott by academics in a country like the UK has significant implications for the protection of academic freedom throughout the free world. It should be discussed in a manner that has nothing to do with the political conflict which brought about this boycott. Several Canadian universities took leadership in denouncing this boycott, while others, regrettably, took no action.

Indeed, Canada and esteemed Canadian organizations such as CAUT must take a stand for what’s right — whether it is protecting human rights or academic freedom. Publishing the AAUP list of censored administrations in the United States for not protecting academic freedom, but not a listing of Canadian universities that refused to add their voice to the universities protesting the British boycott reinforces the anti-American attitude among many Canadian academics on academic freedom issues. The silence highlights the failure of prominent Canadian universities to fight to protect academic freedom in a country like the UK that has served as a model for free speech throughout modern times.

Stuart B. Kamenetsky
Psychology
University of Toronto at Mississauga