Academic Freedom and the Israel-Hamas War

As a faculty member of Simon Fraser University, I recently participated in a SFU Faculty Association vote on a motion “calling upon SFU to divest from Israeli commercial interests, suspend partnerships with Israeli universities, and offer concrete support for Palestinian faculty and students.” Such motions have been common across universities around the world during the “situation in Gaza,” as the motion calls it. The inordinate loss of life and suffering of the Israel-Hamas War has led to campus disruptions that have not been seen since the Vietnam War roiled campuses more than half-a century ago (during my student days at York).

The motion, put forward by SFU Faculty for Palestine, reflects the anti-apartheid boycott against South Africa waged for thirty years from the 1960s through the 1980s, which arguably helped bring democracy to the country. In this case, however, the question of Israel’s practice of apartheid, and genocide (as charged by South Africa before the International Court of Justice) is part of what divides campuses today, and is reflected in the Faculty Association vote affirming the motion by the slightest of majorities.

Given my beat in this column is the intellectual property associated with research and scholarship, I want to set out why the related concept of academic freedom was an influence in my voting against the motion on its call for suspending Israeli university partnerships (and certainly a simpler influence than being Jewish, unequivocally supporting the motions’s call for a ceasefire, and recognizing the anti-apartheid boycott’s earlier success).

Academic freedom is at the heart of the university’s production of intellectual property. Within that freedom – institutionally recognized with tenure – scholars are responsible for devising and conducting research that meets scholarly standards (if imperfectly applied). Faculty members’ teaching is similarly guided by principles of academic accountability and intellectual integrity. It’s no surprise, then, that SFU Faculty Association declares that “its mission [is] to: 1) assert the integrity of the academic profession; 2) defend academic freedom in teaching and research.”

Now, it’s clear to me why, in light of the Israeli government’s unconscionable conduct of this war (well-documented in the motion’s preamble), the majority of my colleagues would seek to end the university’s involvement with the Israeli economy and universities (see Maya Wind on their complicity), while seeking to support Palestinian faculty and students. Our right to take a stand and speak out is not in question (if as a matter of free speech rather than academic freedom).

Yet I would hold that this idea of academic freedom should give pause to those who would have SFU suspend any Israeli university partnerships. This could well interfere with their colleagues’ research, which may include collaborating with any of the thousands of Palestinian faculty and students at these Israeli institutions.

If we think of academic freedom as part of the university’s social contract, then what the public can expect is a great variety of well-researched studies (and courses) on such matters, rather than singular institutional pronouncement. The university’s service to the larger community lies not only in its free inquiry, but in its own openness to discussion and deliberation (including public deliberation) as well as, for that matter, serving as a place of protest for students and faculty. These goals are not served by the institution taking a stand, especially as current efforts to maintain a distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism may be failing at SFU and elsewhere in ways that can only undermine the university’s educational mission.

Still, I recognize that, in the face of the Israel-Hamas War’s continuing tragedy, a defense of academic freedom can seem, well, academic. In terms of what can be done, I’d note that SFU is reviewing its “responsible investment policy” and has already taken steps to divest from three military contractors, in advance of a second SFUFA motion on the topic, which faculty passed (by a much larger majority). And faculty members can look for ways to provide, as the motion puts it, “concrete support for Palestinian faculty and students.”

In my case, involving the study of scholarly publishing and the development of publishing platforms (used by Al-Quds Open University’s journals in Gaza), there will be a place, in rebuilding Gaza’s decimated higher education institutions following the much-desired end to this war, for helping with scholarly publishing. To value academic freedom’s intellectual property contributions calls for ensuring that researchers everywhere can exercise that freedom.