| Boycott of Israeli Universities Overturned |
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3 June 2005, for Science CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Buffeted by international criticism, the U.K. Association of University Teachers (AUT) has revoked a decision to boycott two Israeli universities. The boycott was approved at AUT's annual meeting in April and called on members to shun Bar Ilan University in Ramat-Gan because of its ties with a school in a contested settlement, and the University of Haifa for alleged harassment of a lecturer who oversaw a study critical of the Israeli military (Science, 29 April, p. 613). Haifa University denied the allegation and threatened to sue AUT for defamation.
Scholarly institutions quickly issued statements denouncing AUT on grounds that such boycotts violate academic freedom and are counterproductive. Among those who asked AUT to reconsider were the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences, AAAS (which publishes Science), and the U.K.'s Royal Society. AUT members also protested. A group of 25 petitioned for a special meeting to reconsider the boycott, which they claimed had not been fully debated. Roughly 250 attended a meeting on 27 May at which two-thirds voted to overturn the resolution. They also asked AUT to review its international policies, including a call to the European Union to withhold funding from Israeli organizations "until Israel opens meaningful negotiations with the Palestinians." "We are relieved that this counterproductive [boycott] policy has been overwhelmingly rejected," says sociologist David Hirsh of Goldsmiths College in London, co-founder of Emerge, a campaign set up to oppose the boycott. Some who urged sanctions on Israel say the vote hasn't changed their plans, however: "The boycott remains," says one of the leaders, neurobiologist Steven Rose of the Open University in Milton Keynes, U.K., who will continue to honor it. But AUT is taking a different tack. The group's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said in a statement, "It is now time ... to commit to supporting trade unionists in Israel and Palestine working for peace."
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