We write to express our concern about a September 23 letter which we fear could call into question Syracuse University’s commitment to the open exchange of ideas.

We appreciate that our colleagues had the right to publicly condemn an international conference then underway at the Maxwell School’s Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC), but they fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the gathering. It was not devoted to the study of Israel or to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather, participants sought to analyze a range of factors (including political, economic, psychological, gendered, legal, historical, military/security, religious, media- and identity-driven forces) that sustain deep-seated inter-personal, local, national, and international conflicts.

The 31 conference participants from Syracuse, Israel, Oman, Turkey, and across the U.S.—many leaders in the field of conflict resolution—presented on a diverse array of conflicts, from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) effort to decolonize sacred space in central NY to conflict transformation in Northern Ireland and trauma in Syracuse communities of color. We regret that the signatories to the September 23 letter chose not to attend and would have warmly welcomed their participation.

BDS continues to face sustained opposition as reflected in the statements of over 250 university administrators including recently by SU’s Vice Chancellor Michele Wheatly. The American Association of University Professors, Association of American Universities, National Association of Scholars and others have also determined that academic boycotts subvert and undermine the fundamental value of free inquiry and as such are not an appropriate means of advancing ideas within the academy.  

We recommend that SU students learn about the BDS perspective. However, we oppose efforts to present BDS as an uncontested, single truth about Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, America’s role in the world, or even America itself. On each of these topics, a rich and multidisciplinary scholarship offers alternative modes of representation. Our position is not that these arguments are necessarily more persuasive than those which BDS offers, but that using instruments of coercion to advance only one particular point of view and seeking to predetermine the outcome of what should be an open debate is a debasement of the academic enterprise.  

Syracuse University has long partnered with universities outside the U.S. to provide educational opportunities for ourselves and our students. We look forward to continuing in that tradition by hosting scholars and students from the global community, including Israel, at future campus events.

SIGNED (alphabetically) by the following SU faculty participants in the international conference “Transforming Intractable Conflicts: Restructuring and Reframing” co-hosted by PARCC and Tel Aviv University’s Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research on September 22-24, 2016:

Stuart Brown, Professor of Practice, Department of Public Administration and International Affairs

Miriam F. Elman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Robert McClure Faculty Scholar

Shana Kushner Gadarian, Associate Professor, Political Science Department

Catherine Gerard, Director, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC)

Louis Kriesberg, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies, Founding Director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts

Robert Rubinstein, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Professor of International Relations

Stuart Thorson, Donald P. and Margaret Curry Gregg Professor Emeritus, Political Science and International Relations

Corri Zoli, Director of Research, Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT), Research Assistant Professor, Political Science  

Published on October 1, 2016 at 11:50 am