18 January 2014

Yet more bad news for the ASA boycott of Israeli universities

Back on 5 January, the following article was posted (by me). Among other things, that article raised the question of the grasp on the meaning of words by the President of NYU, one John Sexton, especially when he argued that the potential loss of funds from New York State for the support shown for the ASA's BDS resolution would be an attack on NYU's academic freedom.

Now, Richard Behar, Forbes Contributing Editor and NYU Graduate (1982) has written a blistering attack on Prof Lisa Duggan of NYU (and newly elected ASA President) and John Sexton, here. For starters, he "accused NYU President John Sexton of not going far enough, with a “short, terse and quite vanilla” response, suggesting that he was trying “to have his cake and eat it too,” because of the three NYU academics and one PhD student serving on the ASA’s 18-member executive committee". Then he goes on to, quite specifically, excoriate Prof Duggan, because he reveals "Duggan’s support for charges to be dropped against a terrorist named Rasmea Yousef Odeh, who is accused of lying about her past in order to gain U.S. citizenship in 1994." (`The detail is in the 4 or so paragraphs which follow this quote.)

Behar goes on to note "that none of its board members were experts in Middle East studies." He goes on to detail this in quite exquisite detail over the following 7 paragraphs. The rest of the article (and there is quite a bit more) carries the argument against the ASA even further and is even more devastating towards the ASA and NYU. All in all, given the US colleges dropping their affiliations with the ASA and articles like this, I hope that we can count this as a victory for the good guys of common sense.

By Brian Goldfarb.

16 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Straight out of the beginning of "Canticle for Leibowitz"!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Looks like it, though I suppose politics counts as academic freedom.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

There certainly will be a war, and we'll probably be dragged into it, if Iran uses its nukes on anyone.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Bet he has skin problems you wouldn't believe. Not to mention the odor.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yep.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Allure? You need glasses.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Still, 80 calls for some respect, at least from me... and I bet he doesn't feel any odor ;-)

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Just don't lose your place after the fourth clause.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Well, it was a bit of exaggeration. For the purpose.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Now Duggan is digging an even deeper hole for herself. Just yesterday, she responded to Behar with an accusation that he was being homophobic (see http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/16/exclusive-incoming-asa-chief-accuses-forbes-writer-of-homophobia-after-scathing-critique-of-her-anti-israel-stance/). If you read the original article, you'll see that Behar was pointing to the lack of academic expertise on the Middle East by the NYU ASA Council members. If noting that that many of their expert fields lay in the area of lgbt studies is homophobic, then academic freedom is already a lost cause in some parts of NYU.


Which is the substance of Behar's further response says.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Note that the count (according to CommentisFree Watch) of pro-sanctions Senators is now 59. Also note that 43 out of 45 Republicans have signed up.


So where are all the Democrats? They can't all be Obama lackeys, surely, and certainly not up for re-election this year.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I'm betting the stench scares away any nasty micro organisms that may otherwise cause trouble.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

This is probably it!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Well, Faulkner could fill a whole page with one sentence, no sweat. And you know, I rarely lose the pace (or the place) reading him, which is another proof of his terrific talent.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

And he has no friends, no wife either.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

So what, he is healthy!